Ayrshire schools named joint winners in pocket garden contest
Two schools in Ayrshire were named as joint winners in a national gardening competition.
Auchlineck Early Childhood Centre and Kilmaurs Early Childhood Centre were voted joint winners in the annual Pocket Garden Design Competition.
Organised by Keep Scotland Beautiful in partnership with the Garden for Life Forum, the competition gives nursery and school pupils, aged three to 18, the opportunity to design a miniature pocket-sized garden.
This year's designs were inspired by the 2025 'Our Heritage' theme and had to include food for people, be good for wildlife and reuse something.
More than 130 entries were received from schools across Scotland and judges had a tough time whittling the numbers down.
A judging panel consisting of representatives from the Garden for Life Forum, Butterfly Conservation and Historic Environment Scotland selected three overall winners based on the design themes while a public vote was also help to choose the public's favourite.
Sacred Heart ELC in Falkirk, Dunscore Primary in Dumfries and Galloway and Grandtully Primary, Perth & Kinross were picked by the judges in the three design categories.
More than 4,000 votes were cast in the public vote which saw Kilmaurs and Auchinleck tied for first place.
Eve Keepax, senior education and learning officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: 'If you're in need of something to raise your spirits, spend a moment browsing the Pocket Gardens showcase. There are photos and stories full of creativity, resilience, humour, teamwork and care. All in addition to wonderful first-hand experience of problem-solving, sustainability, nature and thinking about our values.
'This year's heritage theme provided a focus for children across the country to show what they value about what has been passed down to them, or something about where they live that is special for them. It included industry, food, landscape, pop culture, story, and even the humble weed.
'The showcase winners did a fantastic job bringing these garden ideas to life and the sheer number of votes we received shows how much the public enjoyed them too.
'I'd like to thank everyone who took part for creating these magical designs and say a huge congratulations to all our winners. I'm already looking forward to next year's competition.'
The Pocket Garden Design Competition aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Four, Learning for Sustainability, and is run as part of our Climate Action Schools framework.
It gives pupils and educators a creative focus for learning for sustainability, STEM skills, and the Curriculum for Excellence while learning more about the climate and nature emergencies and having fun learning outdoors.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
26-06-2025
- Daily Record
Ayrshire schools named joint winners in pocket garden contest
Auchlineck Early Childhood Centre and Kilmaurs Early Childhood Centre were named as joint winners following a public vote Two schools in Ayrshire were named as joint winners in a national gardening competition. Auchlineck Early Childhood Centre and Kilmaurs Early Childhood Centre were voted joint winners in the annual Pocket Garden Design Competition. Organised by Keep Scotland Beautiful in partnership with the Garden for Life Forum, the competition gives nursery and school pupils, aged three to 18, the opportunity to design a miniature pocket-sized garden. This year's designs were inspired by the 2025 'Our Heritage' theme and had to include food for people, be good for wildlife and reuse something. More than 130 entries were received from schools across Scotland and judges had a tough time whittling the numbers down. A judging panel consisting of representatives from the Garden for Life Forum, Butterfly Conservation and Historic Environment Scotland selected three overall winners based on the design themes while a public vote was also help to choose the public's favourite. Sacred Heart ELC in Falkirk, Dunscore Primary in Dumfries and Galloway and Grandtully Primary, Perth & Kinross were picked by the judges in the three design categories. More than 4,000 votes were cast in the public vote which saw Kilmaurs and Auchinleck tied for first place. Eve Keepax, senior education and learning officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: 'If you're in need of something to raise your spirits, spend a moment browsing the Pocket Gardens showcase. There are photos and stories full of creativity, resilience, humour, teamwork and care. All in addition to wonderful first-hand experience of problem-solving, sustainability, nature and thinking about our values. 'This year's heritage theme provided a focus for children across the country to show what they value about what has been passed down to them, or something about where they live that is special for them. It included industry, food, landscape, pop culture, story, and even the humble weed. 'The showcase winners did a fantastic job bringing these garden ideas to life and the sheer number of votes we received shows how much the public enjoyed them too. 'I'd like to thank everyone who took part for creating these magical designs and say a huge congratulations to all our winners. I'm already looking forward to next year's competition.' The Pocket Garden Design Competition aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Four, Learning for Sustainability, and is run as part of our Climate Action Schools framework. It gives pupils and educators a creative focus for learning for sustainability, STEM skills, and the Curriculum for Excellence while learning more about the climate and nature emergencies and having fun learning outdoors.
Daily Record
25-06-2025
- Daily Record
Inspectors update parents on progress of Cleland school after critical inspection earlier this year
After a visit to Cleland Primary, inspectors graded the school as 'weak' in one area and only 'satisfactory' in three other categories. Inspectors have updated parents on the progress of a primary school following a critical inspection earlier this year. After a previous visit to Cleland Primary, inspectors graded the school as 'weak' in one area and only 'satisfactory' in three other categories. These included to improve the quality and consistency of learning, teaching and assessment across the school; support the headteacher and staff to plan and implement improvements across the school and to raise attainment in literacy and numeracy. Inspectors returned in June to find out what the headteacher and other staff have taken to improve. In his report, HM inspector Simon Gallon said: 'Senior leaders and the school community have worked together well to embed successfully the school's vision, values and aims. 'As a result, children understand and can talk about what the values mean in practice. 'Senior leaders and staff have established systems and processes which enable them to measure school improvement and assess the impact on improving outcomes for children. Together, staff have developed a school improvement plan which sets out clearly the priorities across the year. 'They have identified appropriate areas for improvement. These include improving approaches to learning, teaching and assessment and raising attainment in literacy. 'Since the original inspection, all teachers now have opportunities to lead areas of change and improvement. 'These include pupil leadership groups and areas of curriculum development, such as literacy and numeracy. 'Children continue to learn in a positive ethos underpinned by the school values. They now have a greater say in school matters which are important to them. 'They like that staff listen to their views and opinions The report states there has been an improvement in the quality and consistency of learning and plans to raise attainment in literacy and numeracy. Mr Gallon's report adds: 'Across the school, children behave very well and have positive attitudes towards learning. 'Almost all engage well in varied activities which match their different needs when working on their own, with partners and in small groups. In almost all lessons, children make key decisions when learning. 'Senior leaders and teachers have a shared understanding of high-quality learning and teaching. They now use time for teaching better. 'They break down lessons into appropriate segments of learning to check children's knowledge and understanding. This is helping children to make better progress. 'Senior leaders and staff have taken positive steps to improve the accuracy of teacher professional judgements of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) levels. 'Teachers now have a better understanding of national guidance and national expectations. Their judgements of children's progress have improved. 'Attainment is improving across the school. Staff now have a clearer understanding of standards, expectations and progression in learning. 'The majority of children across the school are on track to achieve appropriate CfE levels in reading, writing and numeracy, with most children on track to achieve appropriate levels in listening and talking. 'Senior leaders have an understanding that it will take time to embed significant improvements in attainment over time. 'They should ensure that raising attainment, particularly in writing, remains a key priority across the school.' Inspectors stated they were confident that the school has the capacity to continue to improve and so we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection. *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
Daily Record
19-06-2025
- Daily Record
Keep Scotland Beautiful celebrates eco achievements of two Hamilton schools
Chatelherault Primary School and Hamilton Grammar School were visited. Pupils and educators at two Hamilton were visited by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful to celebrate their achievements in the international environmental Eco-Schools programme. As part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the international Eco-Schools and Young Reporters for the Environment programmes, Keep Scotland Beautiful hosted an online assembly, organised live lessons and set celebration challenges. Additionally, schools celebrating a milestone are being visited to mark their success. Chatelherault Primary School and Hamilton Grammar School were visited by Keep Scotland Beautiful's Gaelic education and learning officer Jonathan Angell, who presented them with certificates to celebrate their 10th Green Flags. Barry Fisher, CEO of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: 'This year we celebrate 30 years of schools making an environmental difference through Eco-Schools. 'It's great that we were able to visit Chatelherault and Hamilton Grammar School to present a certificate of achievement and to hear from the children, young people and educators about their inspiring action and commitment to improving our environment. 'For the past 30 years we have loved hearing about the remarkable achievements of our young people and the development of learning for sustainability across the world, and we look forward to continuing to provide support through our Climate Action Schools framework.' Eco-Schools is the largest sustainable schools programme in the world, operated internationally by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and delivered by Keep Scotland Beautiful. It was launched in the UK four nations, Denmark and Germany in 1994, with Scotland awarding its first flag in 1995.
