We are an ECO SCHOOL
We are proud to be an 'Eco School'.
From the time children begin their journey with us, they are taught the importance of looking after our world.
OUR ECO CODE
Our new Eco code is “Grow and learn together “
We have a dedicated eco week in March each year when we focus on what we can all do to reduce waste.
Throughout the year children are given the opportunity to learn outdoors about the importance of looking after nature and they are always encouraged to observe things growing.
What is an Eco School?
The Eco-Schools programme engages the children's awareness, knowledge and understanding of how they can contribute to the development of an Eco-friendly environment.
Eco learning opportunities are embedded in our nursery school curriculum through play experiences both indoors and outdoors.
We are proud to announce that we renewed our Green Flag status in 2025 once again and will continue to promote our targets in the new school year.
ECO SCHOOLS 2022-2023
Autumn: Planting Daffodil Bulbs
We have been focusing on the season of Autumn in school and the changes that we see in nature. The children enjoyed getting involved in lots of outdoor learning activities.
Some of these are Forest School based which we have been able to carry out in our playground.
The children were matching colours in nature, collecting natural materials for 1 to 1 correspondence and being creative hiding the hedgehog.
Later in the year we hope to visit Forthill park to further develop and explore our Forest School area.
The children have been very busy in school working outside in the garden helping to brush up the leaves and get ready for planting. It’s the right time of the year to do some planting for Spring.
We had great fun filling our pots with soil and planting daffodil bulbs. Everyone took their own pot home to look after and watch the flower grow in Spring.
January: RSPB Big School Garden Bird Watch
This week we all took part in the RSPB Big School Garden Bird Watch. We had already been busy making our own binoculars in class ready for this event.
The children all helped to make bird feeders which we hung around outside on the trees. We also put bird seed on the bird table and waited. There was a lot of excitement when the first birds were spotted and the counting began.
Once we had finished and recorded our results we uploaded them onto the RSPB website. The children enjoyed learning the names of different birds and we talked about the different colours and sizes of those birds that landed in our playground.
Spring flowers
When it was Spring, we started to tidy up the garden and do some planting. The children all enjoyed helping and will be learning how to look after the flowers.
Working in the Vegetable Garden
What a busy few weeks we have had in school now that the weather is getting warmer. The children have all been helping to get our vegetable garden ready for planting. They were clearing away the leaves and weeds before turning over the soil in preparation for planting.
This year we have three potato sacks started with earlys.
The children enjoyed putting the individual peas into each hole they dug and counting them as we went along.
We have also added some lettuce seeds and more strawberry plants so hopefully there will be plenty to enjoy eating.
We also planted tomato plants in grow bags. They are in our conservatory. They are already smelling gorgeous in the conservatory. Now we will all have to remember to water everything and look after them!
Summer: Planting Sunflowers (National flower of Ukraine)
All the children planted their own sunflower seeds and took them home to look after. They are excited to see if the flowers will grow taller than they are.
Looking after our plants
We have been very busy looking after all of the flowers, fruit and vegetables which we planted in school. They need sunshine to help them grow and we have helped to water them using rain water from our water butts.
Tree planting
It is exciting to see how big our trees have have grown already. They are growing strong and tall. Can you guess what sort of trees have the pretty blossom on them?
Growing fast !!!!!!!
Look at how well our fruit and vegetable plants are growing. The potato plants are almost as tall as some of the children.
The children have already been enjoying the strawberries and with some more sunshine the rest will turn red quickly. Our broad beans are getting bigger each day and we will be able to pick them soon too.
Look at what we grew!!!!!
The children in school have really looked after our fruit and vegetables this year. With the very hot weather we had to do lots of extra watering but it worked and so far we have harvested our potatoes and strawberries. Which were really yummy.
The peas are still growing and our tomatoes have appeared, some of them are beginning to turn red already.
ECO SCHOOL 2023-2024
Juicy Apples
In September we were able to pick the lovely red apples that had grown on our apple trees at the front of school. We made delicious apple crumble with them and everyone enjoyed having some for snack.
Planting Daffodils
October has started and we are busy with our planting. The children have all planted their own daffodil bulb in school and taken it home to look after and watch grow.
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2024
We all had a very busy time in school this week getting ready for the Birdwatch. Lots of the children helped to make different types of bird feeders. We used cheerios, bagels with lard and sunflower seeds and tubes with birdseed on them.
In class we spent time looking at books and pictures of birds. We talked about what they eat, how they move and why they need extra food at this time of the year. Some of the children were able to name the Robin, Blackbird and Magpie.
It was very exciting watching to see what birds came to our playground to eat. We saw lots of Great Tits and Magpies. Mrs McBride loaded our results onto the RSPB website.
NI Water Visit
At the beginning of February we had a very informative visit and talk from Anna who works for education in NI Water. We learned how water is collected and cleaned using sand, which she showed us with a bottle and filter.
She told the children all about how we need to save water and not waste it at home and in school. Anna explained how lots of things we drink have too much sugar in them and that we should drink lots more water to be healthy.
Safe Walking
This month we have been learning how to walk safely when we are out beside the road with a grown up. The Police came to school to help us practice this. The children all learned that we must hold someone’s hand and stay on the pavement, away from the edge that is near the road.
The Police came back in February and we went for another walk to see if we could be safe beside the road. All the children walked very well and received a Safe Walking Certificate from the Policeman.
Eco Week 4th - 8th March 2024
This week the children have been learning more about taking care of the environment and their world. Each day we have been thinking about how we can re use things, save water, recycle and help prevent pollution.
We took home a shower timer, a reusable drawstring bag, a beach quiz, a reusable water bottle and we walked to school together one morning.
Planting Cress 2024
We are currently unable to do all the flower and vegetable planting that we normally do at this time of the year due to the ongoing work in the playground. So the children all helped to grow some cress in the classroom. They each individually sewed their own cress seeds in little pots and will be able to take them home once the seeds begin to germinate.
This was a different experience for the children as we didn’t need any soil!!!!
New Life 2024
We have been very lucky this year to have the opportunity to have some eggs in an incubator in the classroom. The children have patiently waited and last week we had 5 little chicks hatch out. Everyone was very excited and we watched them grow before they went back to the farm.
Again this year, we had some caterpillars in school and observed how they grew and changed into cocoons and then beautiful butterflies which we were able to release in the garden.
Busy Bees!!! (May 2024)
The new playground is really taking shape now and, with the help of a very dedicated parent volunteer, we have managed to transplant some of our original plants and add many new ones to our new wooden planters.
The children have also been busy planting some flowers in our troughs and we have got some new hanging baskets with strawberries and tomatoes growing in our conservatory.
ECO SCHOOL 2024-2025
Tasty Apples
We have had a great season for our apples this year with all of the trees bearing fruit. The children were able to go out and help pick some lovely red juicy apples and bring them back into the classroom. After washing and chopping them in the house, they enjoyed tasting them for our snack.
Bulb Planting
The children have all been busy helping to plant some daffodil bulbs. They were all able to fill their own pot with compost and make a little bed for the bulb. We planted it roots down and once we had covered it over with soil, we gave the plants a big drink of water before we took them home to care for and watch them grow.
Forest School
Everyone enjoyed taking part in the forest school activities organised by Mrs McBride in the playground.
The children had opportunities to observe colour in the environment and match items they found to individual colour cards.
They explored mark making using soil and sticks for drawing and even painted with leaf brushes. Finally, they helped the hedgehog hide by making him a cozy bed of leaves.
Santa Mile a day!
The children and their parents had an early morning walk on Friday, the 6th of December.
They met with staff before school and did a Santa Mile. Everyone taking part really got into the Christmas spirit and were full of very energy coming to school.
RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch!!
Due to the storm, we had to change the day of our bird watch.
The children all had great fun making binoculars and bird feeders in preparation for the big day. There was a lot of fine motor skill learning involved in cutting, buttering, tying and rolling to make everything we needed.
There was a lot of excitement as we waited for the birds to visit our playground.
Unfortunately we only managed to see some pigeons, crows and magpies.
However, by looking at all the books and pictures we had in school, the children have now learnt quite a few bird names and are able to recognise them.
Poly tunnel excitement !!!
At last our poly tunnel was delivered and installed in the front of school this week. The men were very busy and worked hard to get it finished in one day.
We are now looking forward to being able to get on with the project and start our planting.
People who help us
This year we have been very lucky and some parents with interesting jobs have come in to talk to us.
Dentists: We had two mummies who are dentists come to visit .They came into school and spoke to the children about how to brush your teeth, and what things we should and should not eat to keep our teeth and gums healthy. The children were all able to take home a new toothbrush and some toothpaste.
Doctors: As part of healthy heart week, a doctor came into school to visit us. She talked to the children about her job. She explained how their hearts are always beating and they gets faster when they do exercise and the noise that it makes is “lub dub”.
The children were able to use a stethoscope to listen to a heartbeat.
They also had their pulse and blood pressure checked using special equipment.
Red Rock Friday
Friday 7th February was Red Rock Day in school. The children all came to school, wearing something red and brought some money for the Children’s Heartbeat Trust.
We had lots of lovely healthy red fruit and vegetables for our snack and did some exercises to get our hearts beating faster.
Dr Rachel came to visit and talked about how to keep our hearts healthy by eating good food and doing some exercise every day.
The children decorated red hearts in the classroom and took them home to talk about our interesting day.
PSNI Safe Walking 2025
Two policemen came with their car to practice safe walking with the children. We all put on a coat and a high viz vest to get ready. We held hands with a friend. Then we headed out the front of the school with a policeman leading the way.
We learned that we must always hold a hand when walking beside a road. It is very important not to walk near the edge of the footpath and we must try to stay in close to the buildings.
When we returned to school, the children all received a certificate to say they could walk safely.
They also had a chance to sit in the police car and push the lights and siren.
NI Water Visit 2025
Anna Killen from NI Water Service came to school today and talked to the children about where our water comes from. The children enjoyed being scientists along with Susie Scientist (her toy) and helped her to clean the dirty water using sand filter magic. She introduced them to H2O the raindrop super hero.
We all learned what to do so we don’t waste water:
- Turn off taps when brushing our teeth
- Have a shower instead of a bath.
She explained that we should make sure rubbish goes in the bin and not down the toilet to stop it ending up in the rivers and sea and making our animals sick. We also learned how important it is to drink nice clean water.
RNLI Visit
This week we had a visit from the RNLI. Peter came to talk to the girls and boys about being safe near water and about his job and how he helps people who are in trouble.
He had his stormy Stan, the lifeboat man puppet, with him and he brought with him the big woolly bear suit that he wears to keep warm underneath the dry suit which he needs when he is on the lifeboat. The dry suit even has Wellington boots attached to it.
He explained to the children that if they are at the beach and in trouble or lost they should go and find a lifeguard who is there to help them. He showed them the lifeguard uniform. He told them that if they are in a boat they should always wear a life jacket to be safe.
The children were able to try on real RNLI helmets and child sized yellow coats. He even had small pretend lifejackets to dress up in.
Eco Week
We had a very busy week in school for our Eco week. The children took part in lots of different activities, thinking about how to look after our planet.
We all learned how to take care of nature by planting some seeds and beans in school.
The children were able to take home reusable water bottles and bags. This was teaching them how to recycle and save waste.
We had a great turn out for our walk to school morning with parents and children meeting together at Tesco’s, highlighting the carbon footprint caused by cars and fumes.
The week was finished off with our 'Wear Green Be Green Day'.
Everyone enjoyed dressing in something green and taking part in green activities throughout the day. We even had green food for snack!
Planting!!!
This week we have started to plant our seeds in preparation for the beds in the poly tunnel. The children enjoyed helping to plant lettuce, peppers, peas and radishes. We also planted some special magic beans and look how big they have grown.
The children helped to fill the potato sacks with compost ready for our seed potatoes. We hope to have lots to eat this year!!
More planting (May)
The children were very excited to help plant tomato, plants and strawberries. There was a lot of water needed as the weather is so hot at the moment, but they’re enjoying smelling the tomato plants in the conservatory.
The raised beds are in progress for the poly tunnel, and we have a vine and other vegetables ready to plant.
