Latest news with #ClimateActionSchools
Daily Record
26-06-2025
- General
- 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
19-06-2025
- General
- 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.
Daily Record
17-06-2025
- General
- Daily Record
North Lanarkshire schools receive eco awards from Keep Scotland Beautiful
St Aidan's Primary in Wishaw and Greengairs Primary in Airdrie were honoured by the environmental charity. Pupils at schools in North Lanarkshire were recently 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 has hosted an online assembly, organised live lessons, and set celebration challenges. Additionally, schools celebrating a milestone will be visited to mark their success. St Aidan's Primary School in Wishaw was visited by Keep Scotland Beautiful's Senior Education and Learning Officer Josh Cannell who presented the school with a certificate to celebrate their 10th Green Flag. Greengairs Primary School in Airdrie was also presented with a certificate to celebrate their 10th Green Flag. 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 St Aidan's and Greengairs Primary Schools 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. The Climate Action Schools programme, funded by the Scottish Government, provides a positive driver and demonstrator for schools towards achieving Target 2030.
Glasgow Times
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Glasgow primary school wins national Eco-Schools competition
St Patrick's Primary School, in Glasgow, triumphed in the tartan design challenge, part of a series of Eco-Schools activities marking 30 years of the programme in Scotland. Organised by Keep Scotland Beautiful, the nationwide celebration included three creative challenges – a collage challenge, bingo challenge, and tartan challenge – with St Patrick's taking the top spot in the primary school category of the tartan contest. Read more: Glaswegians urged to 'light up the longest day' and help feed hungry children Andrea Gabriel, education and learning manager at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: "Throughout the last few months we've had so much fun celebrating 30 years of Eco-Schools, with visits to some of our amazing schools and now this set of challenges. "It's been so inspiring to see their creativity and love for Eco-Schools and it wasn't easy to select a winner. "I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part and congratulations to our winners. "We're so passionate about environmental education and it is so inspiring to see that passion is shared by young people and educators across Scotland." The tartan challenge invited schools and nurseries to design a tartan inspired by the new Scottish International Eco-Schools Planet Earth Tartan, encouraging pupils to draw on their heritage and environment. St Patrick's Primary School received £200 to support future Eco-Schools activities, while highly commended entries were awarded £100 each, with prizes sponsored by HP. Read more: When to expect thunderstorms and heavy rain in Glasgow this weekend The Eco-Schools programme promotes environmental education and action within schools and is part of Keep Scotland Beautiful's wider Climate Action Schools programme, funded by the Scottish Government. This initiative supports schools in working towards Target 2030, Scotland's commitment to reach net-zero emissions by the year 2030. The Climate Action Schools programme aims to equip young people and educators with the knowledge and tools to drive environmental change within their communities. More information about the programme is available on the Keep Scotland Beautiful website.
Daily Record
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
South Lanarkshire school highly commended for tartan design challenge
Keep Scotland Beautiful is celebrating the incredible impact of Eco-Schools over the past three decades. A South Lanarkshire school has been highly commended for its design submission that celebrates 30 years of Eco-Schools in Scotland. Environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful is celebrating the incredible impact of Eco-Schools over the past three decades with a series of challenges throughout the school year. There were three challenges for pupils to take part in: a collage challenge, a bingo challenge and a tartan challenge. Each one had prizes for the winners, ranging from gift cards to litter picking equipment and the winners were announced online during the Eco-Schools celebration week (June 9-13). High Blantyre Primary were highly commended for their design, which was created by P1 pupil Charlie Stevenson after a whole school competition. Charlie's design incorporated green to represent local plants, blue for the school uniform and the River Calder that is near the school, purple for local flowers and lavender grown in the playground and red for the school building and surrounding houses. Schools and nurseries were challenged to create their own tartan inspired by the story behind the recently unveiled Scottish International Eco-Schools Planet Earth Tartan, using their local heritage to help create their tartan design. There was one winner in the nursery category, one winner in the primary category and two highly commended entries in the primary category. The winners receive £200 and the highly commended entries receive £100, sponsored by HP, to help with its Eco-Schools activities. Andrea Gabriel, education and learning manager at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: 'Throughout the last few months we've had so much fun celebrating 30 years of Eco-Schools, with visits to some of our amazing schools and now this set of challenges. 'It's been so inspiring to see their creativity and love for Eco-Schools and it wasn't easy to select a winner. 'I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part and congratulations to our winners. We're so passionate about environmental education and it is so inspiring to see that passion is shared by young people and educators across Scotland.' This year Keep Scotland Beautiful is celebrating 30 years of Eco-Schools and Young Reporters for the Environment, with visits to schools across the country. The Climate Action Schools programme, funded by the Scottish Government, provides a positive driver and demonstrator for schools towards achieving Target 2030. And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here.
