Snowball the Polar Bear

Have a look below at the poster made by our Eco Team. This poster is displayed in the school to help teach at the boys and girls about how their contributions have helped towards helping the polar bears. 

Sustran's Big Walk and Wheel 

Well done to everyone who took part in the Sustran's Big Walk and Wheel to school. Thank you to all the parents who participated and supported us in running this event. 

Well done to everyone to contributed towards our fund for adopting a polar bear! 

 Today we received a certificate to highlight the amazing contribution our pupils have made to saving carbon and working towards a more sustainable Northern Ireland. 

International Polar Bear Day

Climate Change is harming the environment. This means that animal habitats are being destroyed and this is causing animals to become extinct.

This year our Eco Team have decided to help polar bears. Climate Change has caused sea ice to decline by 40% over the last 30 years. If we don’t make changes, polar bears will become extinct.

The 27th of February was International Polar Bear Day. On this day, we asked that each child took 50p to school. This money was used adopt a polar bear and support the World Wildlife Fund in helping to maintain healthy habitats for polar bears to live in. Each class also made a class pledge to identify one thing they will do at home and in school to try and reduce Climate Change.

Climate Change and the Weather

 This week the Eco Team visited each class. They carried out their presentation to teach the children about climate change and the weather. They listened and answered to any questions the children had. They then explained to each class how they could help to prevent climate change by making a few simple changes in school. They explained that each day at lunch they would be going around each classroom to check in and see how they are getting on implementing these changes in their classroom. They explained that they will be monitoring and recording the results each day and at the end of the term the class with the most points would win a prize. 

The Eco Team then carried out a survey to check the children's understanding of the topic. 

Click on the link below to see the Eco Team presentation and learn about climate change and the weather!

Saving Water 

Today Pat from NI water came to our school. He delivered a fantastic talk on how to save water and reduce water waste. He even give us plastic water bottles to help us reduce our use of single use plastics. We learnt lots from this talk and can't wait to put our now knowledge into practise. 

Your Climate Future

Well done to the boys and girls in P4,5,6 and 7 who took part in the online course from 'Keeping Northern Ireland Beautiful' called 'Your Climate Future – A Guide for Schools' 

Energy Saving Week

This week was Energy Saving Week. Every pupil in the school was tasked with making simple changes in their home to try and reduce their energy consumption. Have a look below to see our results. 

Eco Week

This week was ECO Week. To celebrate, ECO-UNESCO were offering free talks online all week. Our school signed up to two of the talks. The P4,5 and 7 children took part in the Climate Change 101 talk and the P6 children took part in the Waste-Free Living, Conquering Single-Use Plastics talk. The pupils throughly enjoyed both talks and learnt alot about the topics. 

Schools' Environmental Poster Competition

Well done to all the P6 and 7 who took part in the enviromental poster competition this year! You worked hard. We wish you the best of luck. 

Click on the links below to have a look at some of their work! 

Hedgerow Heroes

Well done to all the primary 7 boys and girls who took part in the Hedgerow Heroes Competition. Best of Luck your entries were fantastic! Well done! 

Waste Promotions Officer in Primary 1,2 and 3

Noel Lyons the Waste Promotions Officer with the Council visited our class this week. He reminded us about what type of rubbish goes into each bin. He showed us some items that were made from recycled materials, soft toys, drinks bottles, reusable folding straw. He helped us to create some plant pots from newspaper. We filled them from compost that was made from the waste that is found in our brown bins, and we sprinkled some cress seeds on top. We sat them on the windowsill and we are going to look after them and hopefully the cress will grow by next week.

Waste Promotions Officer in Primary 4 and 5

We had a great Eco talk by Noel from the NMDDC. We learned so many interesting facts about where our waste goes and had great fun making pyramids out of recycled materials. 

Waste Promotions Officer in Primary 7

We had a visit from Noel Lyons, the Waste Promotions Officer. He showed us how to create lovely pencil cases, using left over cereal boxes. what a great way to save on waste !

Eco-Team 2022-2023

Dylan O'Hare, Joseph Murnion, Myleene Murphy, Annie-Rose Morgan, Lottie O'Hare, John Paul McCartan. 

Congratulations to the Eco Team for receiving their Green Flag! 

Clean and Tidy

Today we did a litter pick in the school field. We collected one bag of recyclable rubbish and 1 bag of general waste! Well done to the Eco-Team!

Cash for Clobber

A big 'Well done' and 'Thank you' to everyone who took part in our Cash for Clobber. Your hard work and kindness helped to raise £160 for the school. 

Beach Clean at Cranfield Beach.

Today Primary 6 and 7 took part in a coastal workshop delivered by Ben Ryan and they thoroughly enjoyed the experience. They  completed a workshop in school before boarding the bus for a fun filled day outside. The children wore hi-vis vests and were  provided with gloves and litter pickers. Well done to everyone who took part! This is a great way to help protect our enviroment. 

Paper Free Day

Today the Eco-Team held a Paper Free Day. The purpose of this was twofold. Firstly, they wanted to raise awareness of paper usage and reduce our paper waste. Secondly, they wanted to raise money in order to be able to purchase flowers to plant around the school to support biodiversity. This day was great fun. Each class also had an individual eco task to complete to help raise their awareness of biodiversity.

P1/2 made bug hotels.

P2 made bird feeders from toilet roll tubes.

P3/4 made bird feeders from fruit and garden wire.

P5/6/7 planted a range of different seeds.

Have a look below to see what each class got up to. 

Thank you to everyone who donated.

Primary 1 and 2 Bug Hotels

Primary 2- Bird feeders

Primary 3/4 Bird Feeders

Primary 5 Planting seeds

Primary 6/7 Planting seeds

Paper Free Day 

On Thursday we are holding a Paper Free Day. This day will help us to reduce the amount of paper we use in school and raise awareness of reducing waste. On this day we are also asking everyone to take in £1 to help us raise money to buy plants. We hope to plant these plants around the school to support the biodiversity. 

On this day each class will also be completing a special activity to promot biodiversity. P1/2 will be making bug hotels, P2 will be making toilet roll bird feeders, P3/4 will be making bird feeders out of garden wire and P5/6/7 will be planting seed. We hope to let these seeds germinate indoors and then transport them outside for the months of May and June. 

The Eco Team went to each class to explain this special day to them. 

Eco Garden

Today the Eco Team worked on our Biodiversity garden. They tidied the area up in preparation for the addition of bug hotels, bird feeders and plants that will be created in each class on our Paper Free Day. 

We are holding a Paper Free Day to reduce our paper waste and raise money to purchase plants to plant around the school grounds to support biodiversity.

Litterpick around Attical 

2023 Environmental Youth Speak 

The 2023 Environmental Youth Speak competition was held on Wednesday 29 March in Newcastle. 

Over 36 participants and 8 secondary schools submitted their online presentations to the judges. Six schools and three secondary schools made it through to the finals.

Congratulations to our P7 James McMorrow who reached the finals!  He did brilliantly he spoke confidently and really engaged the audience. We are all very proud of him.😀

Litter Pick

Great work from our Eco Team today who carried out our first litterpick of the year. We focused on the area around the school grounds. They collected 1 bag of recycable rubbish and 1 bag of general waste. 

Keep up the hard work! 

Clean and Tidy

A hugh thank you and well done to Hollie and Emily Rose, who gave up their time over the weekend to give our school pitch a clearn up! Well done girls! 

Enviromental Youth Speech 2023

Click on here to see the Enviromental Youth Speech  by James P7. He talks about  marine plastic pollution and sustainability.

Single Use Plastics

Today we were very lucky to have a talk from Patrick McShane the Environmental Coordinator in Newry, Mourne and Down District Council. He talked to us about Single Use Plastics and how we can reduce our plastic waste. We really enjoyed this talk and found it very informative. 

Eco Feedback Forms

Today we checked out the Eco Feedback forms to get ideas and contributions from other children in the school on how to make our school Eco Friendly. 

Cash for Clobber

Thank you so to everyone who contributed to 'Cash for Clobber!'

We gathered 68 bags of 'Clobber'! Your support is greatly appreciated. 

Save a Flush

NI Water kindly provided our school with 'Save a Flush Bags' to help us reduce water usage within our school. The Save a flush bags go into the cistern and help reduce the amount of water used in each flush. The Eco-Team went around the school to install them today. We hope to see a reduction in our water usage. 

Reusable Water Bottles.

Thank you to NI Water for providing every child in our school with a reusable water bottle. This will help us to ensure we keep plastic waste to a minimum. Our Eco-Team went around the school to deliver them to each class today! 

NI Water Classroom Visit

Today we received a visit from the NI water. We were taught all about the importance of water and it raised our  awareness of importance of conserving water. We learnt about what can be put into the toilet and what can block the toilet. We discovered the importance of ensuring that we only can only put the '3Ps' in the toilet. We learnt a lot and are very grateful to NI water for the fantastic information session. They even left us with 100 reuseable water bottles.

Eco News

Today the Eco Team visited each classroom to chat to them about the following things:

1) How to reduce water waste in the school and show them the new water saving posters they made. 

2) Explain the scheme 'Cash for Clobber' and provide letters for parents. 

3) Remind the children of the Eco Code and provide a new copy for each class. 

4) Explain our new Eco Feedback Form and where it is located in the school. 

Cash for Clobber 

This year we are partaking in the 'Cash for Clobber' scheme.

"Cash for Clobber" is a scheme from Cookstown Textile Recyclers in which bags are filled with unwanted clothes that would otherwise be sent to landfill. The materials gathered by Cookstown are either re-used or recycled. The “Cash for Clobber” scheme is run in conjunction with Eco-Schools Northern Ireland and aims to teach school children the environmental and social benefits of recycling while raising significant valuable funds for their school.

During January we are taking part in a special Cash for Clobber Challenge. Schools which collect the most textiles per pupil are in with a chance to win the annual ‘Cash for Clobber’ competition with fantastic prizes of up to £1,500.

If you have any unwanted items, you can put them into a black bin bag and bring them to school on either Thursday 26^th or Friday 27^th January.  These will be collected by Cookstown Textile Recyclers, one of the Eco-school program partners, who will sort and recycle.

What can you put in the bag?

• All types of clothing
• Bags and shoes
• Hats and belts
• Towels and curtains
• Bed linen (sheets, pillowcases, duvet covers)

 NO QUILTS OR PILLOWS and all items must be clean.

Perhaps you could encourage family and friends to donate their unwanted textiles too?

Many thanks for your continued support.

Miss Cunningham and The Eco Committee

Reducing Water Waste

We are working on saving water in our school. The Eco Team worked together to creat 3 posters to display near water sources within in the school. They showed them to each class and reminded the children of the importance of turing off taps, only flushing the toilet once and only putting toilet roll in the toilet. We hope that raising awareness will reduce water waste in our school. We are monitoring water usage and will continue to do so to assess the impact of raising awareness. 

Energy Saving Week Schools Challenge

Well done to everyone who took part in the  Energy Saving Week. All your hard work paid off as our school has won the runner up prize in the Energy Saving Week Schools Challenge.  We will receive a willow tree samplings to plant, to enhance our grounds in school and make a positive change to the environment.

World Toilet Day

Today was World Toilet Day. Each class participated in a live virtual assembly to raise awareness throughout our school of the importance of toilets and raise awareness  of the 4.2 billion people who still live without access to safe toilets. Each class got a chance to input their answers to take part in virtual live quizzes. This was great fun and we learnt a lot. 

Water Butt

As part of our work on water reduction this year, we applied to get a water butt for our school. Thank you to NI Water for providing our school with this and talking to our Eco-Team to explain to them how to set it up and use it. We will now be using water from the water butt to water our plants during dry spells. 

Environmentally Friendly Traffic Solution

Well done to the boys and girls who visited Stormont  and identified  the need for traffic lights in our local area. The solar panel traffic lights will be a great eco friendly addition to our community. 

Plastic Free Under the Sea!

After weeks of hard work from everyone in school, the Eco-team finally completed their wonderful display. 

Over the past few weeks/months, everyone in the school have pulled together and collected as many bottle lids as they could! We had every colour of the rainbow! The Eco-Team then carried out some research  and planned what sort of a display they could make with the bottle lids. We decided to make a display with a message that continues to promote our focus on plastic reduction this year! Our display reads 'Plastic Free Under the Sea!  

Well done to everyone involved and thank you for your help! 

Be part of the solution, not the pollution

After numerous Litterpicks in the field behind our school, the Eco Team decided to make some posters to encourage no littering. They did a great job and included some fantastic detail. We displayed them in the field for visiters to see. Well done Eco Team! 

Today primary 1 learnt about flowers and how they grow. We even got to plant some sunflower seeds. We can't wait to see what happens. 

Today we carried out another litter pick in the field behind the school just in time for sports day. We collected a whole bag of recyclable waste and a whole bag of general waste.

Well done to the Eco-Team! Next week we will be making signs for the field to remind people not to litter. 

Today the P6 and 7 boys and girls noticed lots of litter in the field. They set off to clean it up and collected 3 bags of litter. Well done boys and girls! Keep up the hard work! 

Bottle Lid Art 

Plastic Pollution is a big problem for the environment. Our Eco-Team decided to try and reduce plastic pollution by reusing plastic bottle lids to create art. Over the past few weeks  every class in the school has been collecting plastic bottle lids. On Monday the Eco-team gathered them from each class and sorted them out by colour. We hope to start using the lids to make a beautiful display next week. Stay tuned to see the results. :) 

Beach Clean and Cranfield 

The P5,6 and 7 headed off to Cranfield beach today to take part in a beach clean. They carried out a survey on the waste types present on the beach before getting stuck in to remove the litter. They gathered a huge amount of waste that would have been extremely harmful for the animals and members of the public. Afterwards, they enjoyed some well deserved playtime in the park before heading back to school. What a productive day… 🌍👍

A huge thank you to Conor, Field Officer for Eco schools, for all of his help today. 

Sustran Big Walk and Wheel Challenge.

Today marks the end of the Sustran Big Walk and Wheel Challenge. Thank you to everyone for their participation. Overall, the children made a fantastic 641 journeys.

Environmental Youth Speak Competition 2022

Absolutely fantastic work by Ella Murphy. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QpIsCn9vM&feature=youtu.be 

Bin Monitors

Today Ella (P7) and Jack (P5) went around each class to present them with new bin labels made by our Eco-Team. They explained the importance of recycling and told the children what sort of things they can recycle. The children got a chance to ask Ella and Jack questions about how to recycle correctly. We had lots of fantastic questions.

Ella and Jack explained that bin monitors will be checking the bins after lunch on Tuesdays-Fridays to ensure that the bins are being used correctly. 

Thank you for all your help Jack and Ella. 

Clean Up Number 3

  Adopt a Spot is a scheme that enables volunteers across Northern Ireland to adopt an area and look after it. Our Eco-Team pledged to adopt our school spot and do at least 4 litter picks for the year. Today we received our 'Adopt a spot' kit which provides us with the resources to support us in reaching this goal. Our kit contains: litterpickers, gloves, first aid kit, sharps box, bags and bucket. 

Today we got started on our 3rd litter pick this year. Today we focused on cleaning the field behind the school. 

Next week we hope to make some signs to remind people to recycle/bin their rubbish. 

Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel 2022.

This morning seen the start of our Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel 2022. The challenge runs from 21 March to 1 April. 

We had a great start to the challenge with lots of children out enjoying the walk to school in the lovely weather this morning. It was a great way to start the day and also helped us to protect the environment by reducing the number of cars on the road this morning. It was lovely to see the big smiles on the children's faces as they walked, cycled and scooted to school. Some of us even spotted some lambs on our walk. 

Recycling Plastic. 

We have lots of different bins in our classroom. We have a general waste bin, food bin, tissue bin and recycling bin. Sometimes we can get confused and put the wrong things in each bin.

Our Eco-Team have been working very hard to produce some videos to help you learn how to use the bins in our class correctly. Our focus this year is to reduce plastic pollution, so the videos they made focus on teaching how to recycle plastic.

Have a watch of the videos below to learn how to recycle. 

If you have any questions, write them down and ask your teacher to pass them onto the Eco-Team. 

Orlagh, Darcie and Ella

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dXYNQ1QnwNEiJApuHH7HIBL2OCQgox-5/view?usp=sharing

Charlie, Jack and Harry 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ldRrJyV0iFf_2Cx8cAuiFNpb357e2xXt/view?usp=sharing 

UH OH

In our classrooms we have lots of different types of bins. We have been monitoring the plastic in our bins and discovered that lots of people have been putting plastic in the wrong bin. We worked together to think of some solutions to the problems. We decided to make some videos to teach the children how to recycle plastic correctly. Stay tuned to see what we create.

Litter Pick

Today we did another litter pick. We started in the school carpark and then moved on to the Tullyframe Road. We collected  bag of recyclable materials and 1 bag of general waste. Well done Eco-Team! 

Water Meter

We are trying to reduce water usage in our school. We started today by finding the water meter and recording the reading. This will help us to track how much water is being used in our school and help us to ensure that there are no leaks. 

Litter Picking

Today we went on a litter pick around the school. We searched for any litter, and we collect it to put in the bin. Now our school is nice and tidy. Next week, we plan to do a litter pick in the field behind the school.  

Plastic Promise

Today we made our Plastic Promise to put an end to throwaway plastics. 

We pledged to 

      -bring reusable water bottles to school. 

      -switch to reusable lunch boxes. 

      -bring reusable plates and cutler to school. 

A new addition to our garden

Today the Eco Team planted a Blossom Tree in our school grounds. We hope this helps the wildlife in our area. We watered the tree using recycled water to help reduce our water consumption. 

Sharing our thoughts on Eco Issues with  Newry, Mourne and Down District Council. 

This week all the boys and girls in KS2 designed a leaf. On one side they wrote a promise about what they are going to do for the environment. On the other side they wrote what they think our local council could do to help the environment. The ideas were well thought out and leaves beautifully designed. 

On Thursday 18th November 2021  our Eco Team got the opportunity to go to Newry, Mourne and Down District Council to present the leaves and their ideas. This was a great opportunity to get our fantastic ideas heard! Well done to everyone involved. 

Primary 1 are introduced to Eco Schools.

COP26

Last week P6/7 composed a rap for the SDLP's campaign on the Climate Crisis... This fitted in perfectly with the end of their 'Rainforest' topic as they had been discussing the negative impacts deforestation has on the rainforest but also the wider world. The winners get to go to Stormont to discuss the issues with MLAs. Click the link below to watch the video. We hope you like it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYdje_a9i7Q

Adopt a Spot 

This week we signed up to the 'Adopt a Spot' scheme and adopted our school  and the area surrounding it.

Our school will take on the roll of protecting this area and reducing the impact we are having on the environment. We will carry out litter picks, and plant flowers where possible to protect this beautiful area. 

Daily Mile Challenge

Plant and Grow

Today we created a vegetable patch. Primary 3 planted lots of different types of herbs. They planted basil, thyme, mint, parsley, and chives. 

Primary 6 girls planted some vegetables. They planted leeks, onions, beetroot, lettuce and even some brussels sprouts.

We can not wait to see what nice things grow and we can’t wait to taste them either.

Iron Man Survival Blankets

This year each class in our school have been working hard to collect all their empty crisp packets. We spent 3 months gathering them up. We collected £300 crisp packets. We then washed them all out, dried them and cut them up read to send away to 'Iron Man Survival Blankets.' This is an amazing organisation which irons all the crisp packets together to make blankets for the homeless. We are delighted to our part in helping this worthwhile cause. 

Wild Challenge

This year we have been working really hard to support biodiversity around our school. We took part in the Wild Challenge to support us with this. We worked really hard and have made a big difference around our school. We added bird feeders, homes for frogs, homes for minibeasts, homes for hedgehogs and even planted flowers. 

We are delighted to say all our hard work has worked as we have seen a lots of wildlife around our school. 

We even achieved a Gold Wildlife Challenge Award for all our hard work.

 We have been  inspired to continue to learn through nature now that we have achieved our Gold award and we will continue to take action to help save nature and biodiversity. 

Welcome to our Four Seasons Biodiversity Resort.

We have Froggy Spas, a Birdy Food Court, a Bug Hotel, a Hedgehog Hotel and a  Busy Bee Florist. 

Wild Seeds

Thank you to Ella for bringing in a code for the Keelings rewilding initiative… we received a lovely pack of seeds to plant in our new eco patch! Well done Ella J

Birdy Food Court 

Great work from the primary 4 and 5 boys and girls who made some lovely bird feeders for our Eco Garden

Bug Hotel 

Primary 3 worked really hard to create some bug hotels this week. They spent lots of time painting pallets to make them look pretty for the minibeasts. Then they added lots of leaves, twigs, branches and wood to make a lovely home for the insects. Excellent work boys and girls. I am sure we will have lots of mini-beasts moving into our new hotel. 

Biodiversity

Primary 2 carried out a survey to find out about biodiversity around the school. They discovered there wasn't a lot of wildlife around the school. We decided that we needed to try and make the school grounds more suitable for wildlife to live in. We came up with some ideas for things that we could do to try and help the biodiversity around the school.

Primary 7 worked very hard and created a wonderful video to explain what biodiversity means. Have a watch of the video below to learn about biodiversity. If you have any more questions about biodiversity, email them to lcunningham778@c2ken.net and the Eco-team will get back to you with some answers. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jkkuENz0K86CwiaIHASdrMrQYSOiDgK1/view?usp=sharing 

Rewilding

Keelings are running a ‘rewilding’ initiative to help replace habitats for our pollinators. Please look out for any codes if you happen to purchase Keelings fruit punnets over the next few weeks.

We would love to get some seed packets so the boys and girls can get outdoors and do some planting in our school grounds as part of our eco school work!

Primary 1's Bug Hotel

Today P.1. continued their work on mini-beasts and made a bug hotel for the all the mini-beasts that live in our school environment. They discussed the habitats that mini-beats live in and decided on the best material to collect and place into our bug hotel. We are so excited to keep an eye on their bug hotel to see how many different mini-beats are attracted .

Sunny Fun

Primary 1 have been enjoying the sunshine this week in by getting outdoors and planting sunflower seeds for their outdoor area. They know that some mini-beasts enjoying flying or crawling into nice bright flowers.

They have put them in a nice, sunny corner of their garden and they can't wait to look after them and watch them grow.

Froggy Spas

Primary 7 have been working very hard to make some habitats for frogs. They used clay and moulded the clay into a cave shape. They then added lots of natural materials to make the caves look more natural and frog friendly. We also made a frog pond. We hope that we have made a lovely area that frogs will like to live in. 

Buzzy Bee Florist

Today Primary 1,2 and 3 got involved in some planting. We wanted to plant some plants to help biodiversity around the school. We did some research and picked plants that minibeasts are attracted too, like Lavender and Butterfly Bushes. We also selected lots of colourful flowers. We even planted some strawberries and tomatoes. We can’t wait to see what grows over the next couple of weeks.

Hedgehog Café

Today Primary 2 worked as a class too make a Hedgehog Café to support biodiversity around the school. We used some bricks and a slab to make a hut to keep the hedgehog nice and warm. We then added some leave on the inside for bedding to make it nice and cosy for the hedgehogs and finally we added some vegetation for food. We really enjoyed creating this and hope that we might see some hedgehogs soon. 

Recycling Rain Water

We have been using recycled rain water to water the plants. This is a great way to reduce the amount of water we are using from the tap. 

Making Bird Feeders 

Our primary one class have been in full swing with learning all about our topic, Spring and Easter. After going on a spring walk to find lots of signs of Spring in our school environment, they only found two birds in our garden. They found lots of birds nests around the front of our school but thought they would like to see more birds around the back of our school.

They discussed how to attract some more birds to our school and decided on making some bird feeders to do this. They made two bird feeders each before deciding on a place in our garden to hang these. They had so much fun doing this and hope to see lots more birds in our garden. 

Clean up 

Today some Primary 6 and 7 boys and girls decided to clean up the grounds around the school. They worked together as a team to collect lots of rubbish. They did a great job and collected 2 bags of rubbish. Well done boys and girls. Keep up this fantastic work. 

Thank you to everyone who entered into this competition. You all put in so much effort and had some fantastic ideas. Well done!

I have attached your artwork below for everyone to see.

This year a big meeting is being held in Glasgow. This is a meeting where all the world leaders come together to think of ways to tackle climate change. They think of ways to protect the environment to ensure a better future for us all. This meeting is called the COP26 conference.

This year, the people who organise the COP26 conference want you to show them how you’d like our planet to look in the future.

They want you to paint, draw or design a piece of art that shows what the earth should look like when your older.   

Enter the competition to be in with a chance of having your artwork displayed at COP26 for all the world leader to see. Show the rest of the world your vision for the future.

Click on this link to watch a video to learn more. 

https://youtu.be/erjbVsIJlIw 

How to Enter

1) Download the Creative Earth Template. ( I have attached it below).

2) Print the circle out and draw directly onto it, or edit the circle on your computer using whatever software you like.

If you don’t have a printer, you can simply draw a circle onto an A4 piece of paper instead and use the digital template as a guide.

3) All artwork must fit within the circle and include the colour green. Apart from that, you can be as creative as you like. 

How to Submit your Entry

1) Download a 'Competition Parental Permission Form' and ask a parent to complete it for you. 

2) Email the following to lcunningham778@c2ken.net. 

•  A picture of your artwork
• Competition Parental Permission Form 
• Your name

It is that simple. So get creative and show show global leaders what sort of a world you want to live in.

All entries must be submitted by 11.59pm on Monday 5th April 2021, and the winners will be announced in Spring 2021.

The Big Birdwatch

This year the RSPB are holding the Big Schools’ Birdwatch between 29th- 31st of January. Thanks to people taking part in the Big Birdwatch, the RSPB now have over 40 years of data and this has helped increase their understanding of the challenges faced by wildlife. Knowing how many birds are in different areas can help the RSPB spot problems so that they can put different strategies in place to help birds survive and thrive.

As our Eco focus for the year is supporting biodiversity, we have decided to take part in the Big Birdwatch. This is planned to take place this weekend between the 29th and 31st of January. 

Click on the document below to find out more about how to do the Big Birdwatch from the comfort of your own home. 

I have also attached some information to help you learn about the birds you might see in your garden along with a sheet to help you record your results. 

If you want to try and encourage birds into your garden, have a look a the resources I have attached below. There are lots of easy ideas and things you can do at home to help you. 

In order to prepare for the Big Birdwatch and encourage birds to come to your house, you may like to use some of the resources attached below to help you attract the birds.  You will need to provide the birds with a source of food and water.  😊 

I put some bird food into a feeder outside my window at home and it has already attracted lots of birds. Have a watch of the video below to see what birds have come to my house. Take some pictures of the things you have done to attract birds and send them to lcunningham778@c2ken.net. I will upload them to the website for all your friends to see. 😊 

Meet our Eco Team 2019-2020

Primary 7  representatives

Josh Rafferty (Chairperson)

Cora Keating

Primary 6 representatives

Kayla Maginn

Luke Murphy  (Vice Chairperson)

Primary 5 representatives

Conor Gilroy (Treasurer)

Ella Murphy

Primary 4 representatives 

James McMorrow

Mary Murnion

ECO CODE

Today the whole school worked together at the one time to create an Eco-Code! IT WAS AMAZING!

Miss Cunningham created a google document and each class went onto the document at the one time. Each class took turns to write a line of the Eco-Code. We could see each class type! We all loved collaborating on this document together. 

Have a read of our Eco-Code below! 

We recorded a demonstration video so you can practise rapping it. Listen to our Eco Team rap our Eco code and then try rapping it on your own using this song.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xQFASlG02A

When we have learnt it,  we will record the whole school rapping together and we will add some dance moves too! I know we can't wait, so GET PRACTISING! 

You will find the demonstration by the Eco Team by clicking on this link. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KRLSyPzfPwLt3Rag5iS4F-bAP33Ud4pQ/view?usp=sharing

Bug Hotel

During the time we have been off school due to the Corona Virus the P2 pupils had been given the task of creating a bug hotel to create the biodiversity in their gardens. They had to think about  the bugs they wanted to see and what those bugs would need to thrive. We had some amazing creations and we even got some visitors too! 

Energy Saving Week 

Holy Cross Primary school took part in Energy Saving week which took place between Monday 18th to Friday the 19th of November. 

The Eco-Team went around all the classes in the school and explained to them the importance of saving energy and how it can help to prevent climate change. They talked to the children about how they can reduce their energy usage both at home and at school. They provided each child with an energy saving record to take home to support them in reducing their energy usage at home. 

The Eco-Team would like to say a massive well done to all the boys and girls in Holy Cross Primary school as our results were as follows: 

• 21 children  unpluged electrical items they were not using
• 23 children turned off the water tap when not using it. 
• 23 children turned the thermostat down by 1 degree 
• 23 children tried having a shower instead of a bath
• 23 children turned off their lights.

We even received a certificate for all our hard work! Have a look at our certificate below to see how much energy we saved!!

Eco Suggestion Box

Our Eco-Team have created a suggestion box. In this suggestion box you can add any ideas that you have to help keep our school an environmentally place. We would love to hear your ideas! 

Reducing our waste

This week our Eco-Team spent some time weighing the waste in bins around the school. The found that although we have recycling bins in the school, sometimes we don't use them correctly. We also found out that most of our waste is made up of crisp packets. 

In order to try and reduce our waste and make our recycling more effectively our Eco-Team decided that they would:

• carry our research about what can be recycled and make posters to display around the school,
• go around the classes and explain what can and can't go into the recycling bins, 
• hold a paper free day once a term
• research ways of recycling crisp packets. 

Keep an eye out on this page to see what the Eco-Team get up to!

Reduce Reuse Recycle

This week the Eco- Team worked in groups to find out what can be recycled and what can't be recycled to ensure that we are dealing with our waste correctly. They made some posters to explain this to all the classes to help us make sure we are using out recycling bin correctly. 

Have a look at the pictures below to learn more about recycling correctly! We plan to keep weighing and monitoring the waste in our bins to see if the efforts of our Eco-Team have made a difference.

Paper Free Day at Holy Cross PS

Our Eco-committee have been working hard all year to promote an awareness of the importance of everybody playing a part in looking after our planet and making changes before it's too late.  They decided to encourage everyone in the school to stop using paper for one day in order help the environment: the less paper we use, the less trees are chopped down to make it.  So to help reduce our waste we planned a paper free day on Friday 21^st February.

Going paperless for that one day proved to be very successful and many children said it was the best day in school this year.  We recorded our dinner lists on Google drive, we completed written activities on whiteboards, laptops and Chromebooks.

Primary 1 enjoyed lots of practical activities during maths using Numicon, show me cards, sorting sets etc.  They enjoyed a position and movement activity where the child was blindfold and had to listen to instructions in order to get to the final destination. 

Primary 2 practised punctuation with Kung-Fu Panda.  When they spotted a mistake in the piece of writing, they used an action to show how they would fix it.  A full stop required a hiya and a capital letter required a bow.  They loved this active learning approach.

Primary 3 and 4 played mental maths games on Kahoot using the Interactive Whiteboard.  They also played Buzz, Find Me, Hide Me, Show Me and Daily 10. 

The Primary 5 class enjoyed a challenge where they recorded on whiteboards any words they could make using the letters in the word ‘acknowledgement’. 

Primary 6 and 7 worked very hard on the Chromebooks and our new labtops to help them learn their Literacy, Numeracy and WAU.

Terracycle Crisp Recycling

When weighing the waste in our bins, our Eco Team discovered that we threw away a lot of crisp bags. They wanted to see how they could try and reduce this problem. After some research, we discovered a scheme called Terracycle that would allow us to recycle crisp packets. So our Eco-Team decided they would try and implement crisp packet recycling in our school. James McMorrow and Mary Murnion, kindly nominated themselves to collect the crisp packets every day. They also decided to count the number of packets they collected to see how much of a difference they were making. By the end they had collected 419 crisp bags to be recycled. This greatly reduced our waste! Well done to everyone in Holy Cross Primary School!  

Monitoring Energy Consumption

To help reduce our energy usage we are going to monitor our energy consumption in the classroom. Each day in your class your Eco-monitors will make sure that you turn off the lights, turn off the taps, turn off the IWB and shut the doors. They will also be monitoring the classroom temperature to make sure that the classrooms are the correct temperature to help prevent us having the heat on when we don't need it. Once a month the Eco monitors will swap classrooms and record the results of each classroom to make sure you are all reducing your energy consumption as much as possible! Keep an eye out in your classroom and make sure you are saving as much energy as possible! 

Cash for Clobber

Sometimes when our clothes get too old to wear anymore we just throw them in the bin. This is contributing to our waste and isn't good for the environment. Instead we have a solution! Our school is participating in a clothing recycling programme called Cash for Clobber. The Eco-Team would like to invite you to gather up any unused or unwanted clothes to donate to this scheme. The collection date is Monday the 30th March. 

If you would like more information you can read the letter below! 

Blythswood Shoebox Appeal

A huge thank you to everyone who donated to our Blythswood Shoebox Appeal! We have collected a fantastic 55 boxes this year. These gifts are really treasured by those who receive them.

This activity helped the children in Holy Cross develop their Global Perspective and gain an understanding of how they can support other people in the world who are less fortunate than them. 

Wildlife Trip 

P3 and P4 enjoyed a visit to the Kilbroney Centre in Rostrevor as an introduction to their new WAU topic 'Birds, Bugs and Beasts'.  They spent the day in the outdoors learning all about wildlife and biodiversity! They learnt how to identify bird calls and they went on a mini-beast safari to see how many creatures we could find.They developed an understanding of how important wildlife is to us and how it is all around us all of the time! Well done P.3 and P.4. 

Daily Mile Challenge

We are doing the Daily Mile Challenge again this year! We plan to walk a mile every day. It will make us fitter and healthier and is good for our mind also.

2019

Wildlife around the school

In Primary 4 their WAU topic is Houses, Homes and Habitats. As part of this they explored the habitats around our school. They found lots of minibeasts who live in different places around our school. They worked in groups of 4 to create a tally chart of each of the different minibeasts they found. They then used this information to make a graph. This discussed how all the mini beasts are adapted to live in different environments. They really enjoyed learning about the biodiversity around our school. Keep an eye out and see what you can find too!

Make A Difference Challenge 2019

Congratulations to Primary 5,6 and 7 who made another enormous difference to our local area and won the challenge for the second year running! What a fantastic project this year again! 

This year the pupils made a difference by carrying out a beach clean. On behalf of Newry, Mourne & Down District Council, Tara Cunningham presented the children with high viz vests, gloves, litter pickers and bags to help them carry out their Beach Clean. She also talked to them about the importance of keeping the beaches clean and what they can do to help. 

Have a look at the pictures to see the amazing difference they made! After the Beach Clean, the children stopped off at the Amenity Site to recycle the items they collected. Sean Bradley was at hand to show the children how to correctly recycle the litter they collected. 

Collecting the litter and cleaning the beaches supports the biodiversity of the local beaches as it helps to keep the beaches save for wildlife to live in. It also helps the marine life. 

Have a look at our pictures to see how much we collected.

Ten Foundations

We had a special visit from Ian Campbell who is the founder CEO of Ten Foundations, a charity working in the Philippines with families living in extreme poverty. Their livelihood programme buys sewing machines and teaches women how to sew and make schoolbags from used fabrics and recycled materials.

Ian will visited our school on Thursday 16th May 2019 to tell the story of the families he works with and the school bags.

We will be holding a large stock of various bags in school and if you wish to see them or purchase one please call at the school office. Schoolbags are £20, lunch bags are £10, swim bags are £10 and pencil cases are £5. All proceeds are returned directly to the families involved and Ten Foundations do not pay any salaries and is run by volunteers.

This visit helped to develop the children's understanding  of Global Perspective and provide them with the knowledge and understanding that they require to participate as full members of a global society. 

Water Bus

The boys and girls from in Holy Cross PS, Atticall had a visit from the NI Water Bus on Wednesday 20^th March 2019. They learned how crucial water is in every aspect of our lives. They discovered how our water is supplied and the ways we can help to ensure water is not wasted. We also learnt about the importance of making sure that we only put toilet roll into the toilet and what can happen if we put other things like wipes in our toilets.

Some of the interesting facts we discovered were; we use 150 litres of water a day! We can save water by having a 5-minute shower instead of a bath, and we need to drink between 5 and 8 glasses of water a day to stay hydrated.

Holy Cross Primary School has pledged to become a ‘refill’ school and were supplied with drinking bottles to reuse to help us reduce our plastic waste. It was a very educational and fun visit and will help us to ensure we are keeping our school an Eco-friendly place. 

2018

 Environmental Poster Competition 

A huge ‘WELL DONE’ to Tara Keenan who won a prize for her amazing poster which she designed to help us to understand the importance of conservation of water. 

Make A Difference Challenge 2018

This year the pupils at Holy Cross Primary School completed the Make A Difference Challenge and Won!!

They started by discussing the different things they could do to make a difference in our local area. After that, they voted to select the specific area they wanted to focus on. They decided that they wanted to focus on  tidying their local community and making it a nicer place for everyone to live. 

The children worked very hard and carried out a lot of the work independently. They started by doing a survey of the area and what they could do. They decided they would pick up the litter, cut the hedges, fix the benches  and plant some flowers.  So they got to work. They contacted local businesses and asked for support, they contacted the council and asked for litter pickers, they drew posters and wrote poems to be displayed in the area. They carried out a bun sale to raise money to help them buy plants for the area too! Take a look at the amazing photographs to see what a fantastic job they did! 

They worked very hard on this project throughout all of term 3 and through this project they helped to protect the biodiversity of our local community and cleaned the local area by collecting the litter.

Well done to Primary 6 and 7! You definitely made a difference!

Birds Nest in Primary 4 

In Primary 4 we have been learning about biodiversity. We have been specifically looking at animal habitats. We decided to make some bird nests using twigs, straw and leaves. We discussed the best materials to use and the materials that would be most environmentally friendly!