Our Green Flag Journey:

Newmains Primary School, School Road, Newmains, Wishaw, ML2 9AZ

​

By:  ( Lara P7, Morgan, Kyle and Zak P6)

​

Eco-Schools Coordinator:

Mrs Margery Lilly  mlilly@newmains.n-lanark.sch.uk

   gw11lillymargery2@glow.sch.uk

​

​

Eco-Schools Scotland Interim Green Flag application June 2021

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

How we formed our committee

On the first Friday of every month, we held our Focus Friday Groups; pupils chose which group they would like to be part of e.g.., RRS, ECO/STEM, Fairtrade, ICT etc. The pupils in the ECO group form the ECO Committee in the school and Mrs Lilly and Mrs Reilly head this group together with P6 and P7 pupils. Children from our school nursery also attended our meetings with a nursery member of staff. However, we only held 2 meetings as the school closed in March due to COVID. We then decided that a pupil from each stage should form the committee with Mrs Lilly and hold socially distanced meetings. The children would feed back to their teachers and class. Only 1 meeting was held due to Covid.

One of our success stories

P4/5 wanted to create a beautiful memorial to remember a very special little girl.

WOW! The whole school is so proud of the work that the boys and girls, Mrs. Stevenson and Mr McArthur, our janitor have done in our playground to achieve this. Look at the beautiful mural; designed by the children and encapsulating an image drawn by Laia.

The garden was completed on 13/9/20 and an opening afternoon was held attended by her family. Before and after pictures of this area show just how much hard work has gone into the creation of the beautiful space; a living memory for a weel girl, so dear to the community in Newmains.

Our Voice (1 of 6)

We wanted to create a memorial garden

Newmains Cares

Our ECO Journey

First, a whole school environmental review was carried out by the ECO committee to see what needed “ECO attention”. We used the picture version so that everyone was included. We also talked about our maintenance agenda such as, recycling, health and fitness, our work for local charities and Water Aid for which we have a focus every year.

In addition to our Litter target, we chose SCHOOL GROUNDS and GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP, because we felt that these linked well to the topics we focussed on in our last Action Plan; Sustainability, and Food and the Environment.

​

​

​

​

​

​

One of our litter wardens.

When we wrote the targets we made sure that lots of the work could be done in classes with the support of the class teachers and when we look at the forward plans, we can see evidence of ECO activities based on our targets. These targets are also addressed in wider targets in our school improvement plan and encompassed in our school values and motto, NEWMAINS CARES.

​

With these targets we are moving on to a wider view of ECO, and to an understanding of what ECO means globally and not just locally. We we are now learning that what we do affects other people, animals and habitats all around the world.

​

​

​

​

Our LearningExperience (2 of 6)

Due to Covid, we could not hold assemblies or events in school, so we shared our learning experience on our school twitter feed; have a look. @NewmainsPS

We have contributed to our local foodbanks and learned about Zero Hunger .

Tracking our Progress

Primaries 5 to 7 were responsible

for our fundraising. They even

created a video which they

posted on our twitter feed to

encourage our school community

to contribute to our Christmas

toy Drive.

We felt that every child in our school Community should have a special Christmas.

The amount of toy donations was wonderful!

​

​

​

​

​

All children in our

School enjoy learning

outdoors

​

​

We knew we were doing a good job

​

• We had whole school Focus Groups working hard for ECO targets.

​

• ECO and RRS committees work closely together, often organising joint events, such as Wear Yellow Day. We achieved our Bronze Level Rights Respecting School Award and we are now working towards our silver award.

​

• All classes are using our school playground much more, both for learning and fun.

​

• Every pupil in the school has contributed to charity in some way and understands that in Newmains Primary we really do CARE.

​

• All classes in the school have worked towards a Global Goal.

​

• All children in the school can talk about why we need to dispose of litter correctly and that our actions can impact on others around the world, animals and habitats.

​

• The local paper included a double page spread about our Christmas toy drive!

​

• The evidence collated for this application is so much more than can be presented here!

​

​

​

Measuring Progress (3 of 6)

Virtual assemblies were

held this year;

“We held an assembly to

tell the whole school of our

ECO flag renewal,” James P7.

Whole School Involvement

We involve the rest of the school by asking them to help us complete our targets (this year in each class). This means that every stage in the school is involved in working towards our targets.

Sharing news/success

In June 2019, we held an Assembly which the ECO committee presented and we shared our success of the renewal of our ECO flag. The local press came to take photos and a statement from the children, so that we could share our success with the local community.

Normally, at various times throughout the year classes present at whole school assemblies to share learning and celebrate success. However, with COVID, we have been unable to have our usual assemblies and virtual ones have been held. We use;the ECO noticeboard, the school twitter account; @NewmainsPrimary to share ECO news and we display our evidence/learning in classes and around the school; just look at what we have learned and some of our super displays. We counted litter we picked and also plastic bottle tops collected and we displayed the information on graphs.

​

​

​

​

​

​

Sharing Success (4 of 6)

“Our Christmas Toy Drive featured in a double page spread in our local paper” Teea P7.

​

P6/7 created some amazing wall displays to encourage safe disposal of litter.

Graph created to show litter dropped.

We share our success on our school twitter feed. Have a look at our amazing work there.

“Our ECO Notice is displayed in the school hall so that everyone can see it and we all know the targets we need to meet” Mirren P3.

Evaluate and Celebrate (5 of 6)

Our Green Flag journey is a continuous journey which permeates the ethos of our school.

​

• Pupils: “Primary 1a held a class meeting to talk about what they learned and enjoyed. They all really enjoyed the Messy Magpie story, learning about litter and the impact it has on animals and the environment. Jennifer enjoyed making the sea creature display from bottle tops which the whole school collected.” Jennifer, Josh, Kaitlyn and Brooklyn, P1a.
• Parents: “Ella said that she enjoyed the Messy Magpie story. Often at home, she asks what bin her rubbish will go in so she has definitely taken notice” Ella’s mum, (P1b)
• Teacher: “Through our joint ECO/STEM group, we aimed to develop skills across the curriculum, at each stage. Firstly, we identified the issues highlighted in the environmental review and explored various options, from gathering and displaying data, litter picking and learning about renewable energy and ways to save energy ”, Mrs Reilly.
• Early Years’ Worker. “The nursery children really enjoy taking part in ECO events” Mrs Delaney.
• Staff: pupils are encouraged to turn off taps and only use 1 paper towel after washing their hands,” Mrs Cadona, Classroom Assistant.
• Head Teacher: “Due to Covid, it has been difficult to celebrate the ECO successes of the school as we normally would. However, our children have embraced our online challenges, demonstrating how Newmains Cares about our world. We took part in Earth Hour, designed posters to highlight climate change, donated to our Chistmas community toy bank, to name but a few. I am so proud of our children’s passion to make our world more ECO friendly.” S. Smith
• Local Partner: “We feel privileged to be business partners with Newmains Primary School. Since 1999, the school has raised £14,379.49 for the Hospice, a truly amazing amount ,“ Ross, St. Andrew’s Hospice.

Working in Partnership

We have worked with several partners during the last few years; parents, St. Andrew’s Hospice, our local supermarket, our local corner shop, local church,the NCT - Newmains Community Centre to name a few. In school, the ECO committee also works closely with STEM, RRS focus Friday Group and Fairtrade focus Friday Group to support, ensure collaboration and develop links across the curriculum.

​

​

​

​

Next Steps… (6 of 6)

• Please check that you have provided us with evidence that you’re happy with. We may use it to share with others as part of our new application/assessment process.
• Make sure that you have permission to share photos
• Save this as a pdf (yourschoolname.pdf)
• Send it as an attachment to sde@keepscotlandbeautiful.org along with a copy of your Action Plans covering the renewal/award period
• Email title: School Name Our Green Flag Journey

Explore…

We’ll be in touch soon to let you know the result of your application. Until then have a think about what you want to do for your next Green Flag application and how that fits in with the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.

www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org

The charity for Scotland’s environment