News! We now have our second Eco Schools Green Flag!
"... Excellent environmental work taking place at the playgroup and an
impressive level of understanding from such young children. It was a
pleasure to visit."
Read what else our Assessor said - click here.
We're proud to say that the Playgroup has won the Schools Grounds category of the all-Wales competition for Eco Schools.
You can read more about the competition and our award here.
What is Eco-Schools?
The Eco Schools Programme is an award scheme which promotes
environmental awareness and sustainability. It does this by involving
children, parents, staff and the wider community.
It focuses on topics such as waste minimisation and recycling, litter,
water and energy consumption, healthy living, sustainable transport,
outdoor learning and conservation, and global citizenship.
The Eco-Schools International Green Flag, awarded to schools with high
achievement in their programme, is a recognised and respected eco-label
for performance in Education for Sustainable Development. We now have
our second Green Flag Award and are the first playgroup in Wales to have
achieved this status.
The Eco-Schools programme is a long-term activity, with the award being
re-assessed and renewed every two years, so we now need to start working
towards our third award.
Eco Newsletter
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Eco Newsletter October 2009
2nd Eco Schools Green Flag
It's great to be able start the first eco newsletter of the year with the news that the playgroup has been awarded its second Eco Schools Green Flag. For those of you new to our group, the Eco Schools Programme is an award scheme which promotes environmental awareness and sustainability. It does this by involving children, parents, staff and the wider community. It focuses on topics such as waste minimisation and recycling, litter, water and
energy consumption, healthy living, sustainable transport, outdoor learning and conservation, and global citizenship. The Eco-Schools International Green Flag, awarded to schools with high achievement in their programme, is a recognised and respected eco-label for performance in Education for Sustainable Development. We are the only playgroup in Wales to hold this award.
The Eco Schools assessor spent a morning at playgroup at the end of last term and as a result has awarded us our second Green Flag. In her report she commented on the playgroup's continuing enthusiasm for the programme and in particular noted "The excellent environmental work taking place at the playgroup and the impressive level of understanding of eco issues displayed by such young children".
Thanks to everyone for helping us to gain our new award.
Eco Meeting
The Eco Schools programme is reassessed every two years so now we start on our work towards our third Green Flag. The 2nd year children have regular "Eco Meetings" at playgroup but the eco schools scheme also relies upon involvement from staff, parents and the wider community.
If you are interested in "green" issues and would like to find out more about the scheme, our first Eco Meeting for this year will take place at The Lamb and Flag on Thursday October 15th at 8pm. Meetings are very informal and are an opportunity to discuss ideas for eco activities we can tackle next. We would be delighted if you could join us, please come along to the meeting if you can to find out more or share your
eco ideas.
To get the ball rolling …
We already have two great recycling projects from Georgia and Sarah Hamilton :
Wick Bears and Bags for Life
A "Stitch and Bitch" evening is being planned by Georgia (K's Mum) and it is hoped that parents will come along and take part in making "Wick Bears" and "bags for life" with an array of colourful, mismatched recycled fabrics. The products made can then be sold on the Craft Stall at the Christmas Fair or at other forthcoming fundraising events. If anyone has any other Crafty/Eco ideas up their sleeve
please let Georgia know. It would be great if you could start collecting fabrics for the "Stitch and Bitch" evening - even if you aren't great at sewing you might be able to come along and cut out, or co-ordinate ideas - or just concentrate on the gossip and the refreshments! Date and venue to be confirmed very soon.
Georgia is looking for suitable fabrics:
Dress fabrics, cotton, cord, patterned, manmade
Furnishing fabrics (not too heavy weight)
Left overs from past projects
Old clothing large enough to cut pattern pieces out of anything retro/vintage
Sarah's Pre-loved Shop
Sarah writes :
I first heard about a 'preloved shop' as a way of raising funds for a playgroup in Cornwall. It was very successful and became a regular date in the playgroup diary! With the credit crunch on everyone's mind too, recycling what we no longer need and finding new treasures at a sale, while enjoying fairtrade refreshments is a great way of spending a morning!
All items can be 'recycled' or 'reloved' including children's and adults clothes, toys, books, household goods and linen. Often we are just bored with stuff or it has been outgrown - someone else will find your 'trash' their 'treasure'!
So everyone gets something 'new', the playgroup benefits and the environment has not been harmed - its a winning situation for everyone!
Sarah hopes to hold her first sale in November. More details to follow.
Recycling Milk Bottle Tops and Stamps
We will be continuing to recycle the lids from plastic milk containers this term. We are collecting these for charity. Lids from full fat, skimmed or semi skimmed milk can be placed in the container in the porch but we have been told that he charity cannot accept any other kind of bottle tops. We are also collecting used postage stamps for Cancer Research and Oxfam. If you know of any other similar schemes for recycling please let us know
at our next Eco Meeting.
Wildlife and Learning Garden
Thanks to our NPower grant and help from students and staff from Saint Donats College we are now able to start the next phase of the work in the Wildlife and Learning Garden. Thanks also to Ceri Squire for arranging the free loan of a trailer to remove rubbish and stone from the site. Hopefully by the end of term the children will be able to use another new section of trail through the garden. In the meantime they will be planting bulbs,
hunting for webs and doing lots of activities with autumn leaves. If you are able to take a turn on our rota for filling the bird feeders in the garden or would be prepared to help us work on the pathway please let us know.
If you would like more information about our eco work please speak to Chrys or Anne.
Eco Newsletter July 2009
Wildlife
and Learning Garden
Lots has been
happening in the Wildlife and Learning Garden over the summer term. The
children have been growing a variety of vegetables in containers and the second
years will be harvesting salad and potatoes this week.
We hope that the
plants that the children have brought home are doing well. The Jack and the
Beanstalk “bean in a bottle” is a great way for them to observe the development
of roots and shoots but can now be transplanted into a pot of earth where it
will hopefully produce some beans later in the season.
The pumpkin plants
that H grew from seed will also probably need to be planted in the garden or
into a large container by now. H tells
us that slugs love pumpkin plants so our
2nd year children who took home one of H’s pumpkins should keep an
eye out for any hungry creatures who might be looking for a snack.
A big thank you to
Helen, Ben and their team of other willing parents who have been helping us to
look after the garden. We really do appreciate your help and couldn’t do it
without you. We hope that you have
enjoyed yourselves despite getting wet once or twice! Thanks also to Georgia
and Dave for making a fantastic willow tepee for our sweet peas. This has
linked really well with our work on climbing plants and Jack and the Beanstalk.
All the children
have enjoyed making a new container herb garden with Isminur and we are pleased
to report that all the plants are flourishing in a sunny spot by the front
entrance. Don’t forget to take time to look at (and smell) the herbs with the
children as you arrive at playgroup. They
have also worked hard to plant up all the flower containers around the hall and
we are very grateful to Isminur for providing the herbs and to Wick Horticultural
Society for donating the ornamental plants.
Garden
Watering
The children are
now recycling all water from their water play troughs to water the various
container gardens. Our water butt in the churchyard is also being put to good
use.
We are keen to
keep the plants in good condition over the summer and are looking for people
who could take a turn at watering for a few days during the holidays. If you
could help speak to Ceri or Anne
NPower
Grant
We have just been
presented with a cheque for £5,000 from NPower part of which is for
continuation of the Wildlife and Learning Garden trail and the remainder as a
starter fund for resurfacing the car park. We are extremely grateful to NPower
Aberthaw and to Ceri our grants coordinator who has put in a lot of hard work
to secure the grant.
Wick
Horticultural Show
Wick Horticultural
Society will be holding their annual show on September 5th in the Village Hall.
There are a number of classes for children to enter :
Class no.
- Floral decoration in
an egg cup
80
- Exhibit of 6
different leaves ( named
) 81
- Miniature garden in
a seed tray 82
- Animal made from 1
or more
vegetables 83
- Draw, name and
colour 3 wild
flowers 84
- To create a collage
entitled 'Secret Garden' 85
- Make and decorate a
kite no bigger than 60cmx30cm 86
- Decorate a
gingerbread man
87
Please check full details in the show
schedule which will be available in the village shop. If anyone is unable to
obtain a schedule they can phone Winnie Davies 01656 890320 or Ron Ayres 01656
890679. There will be entry forms available on the day in addition to the form on the back of the
schedule.
The entries should be at the Village
Hall by 11.30am and they should be in place -set up in their entry section- by
11.45am. The show opens to the public at 2pm.
Recycling
Plastic Bottle Tops
We are now
collecting plastic bottle tops (eg from milk cartons, tetra packs etc) These
can be passed on to raise funds for charity. There will be a collection box in
the entrance porch next term.
2nd
Eco Schools Green Flag and Fairtrade Schools Assessments
It’s difficult to
believe that two years have passed since we were awarded our first Eco Schools
Green Flag. Assessment takes place every
two years and we will be visited by Eco Schools on July 14th. with a view to achieving 2nd Green
Flag status. We are sure that the
children will impress our assessor with their eco knowledge and we will
hopefully be able to let you know if we have been successful before the end of
term. We will also be submitting evidence for our annual Fairtrade Schools
assessment later this month.
Parents’
Eco Group
As the term draws
to a close, we would like to thank
everyone for supporting our Fairtrade and Eco activities throughout the year.
Special thanks to members of the Eco and Fairtrade Groups for their hard work
and enthusiasm for our eco projects.
Please don’t feel
that you have to stop being on these committees just because your child is
moving on to school. We have a number of
past parents who are still very actively involved so please keep coming to our
meetings at the Lamb and Flag and catch up with old friends at the same time.
Details of meetings will be available on the playgroup website.
Eco
Newsletter May 2009
Nest Box Webcam
Please check the playgroup website if you can because Ben’s bird cam is
back in action. Two blue tits have made a nest in the bird box in Ben’s garden
and have now laid a total of ten eggs. You can keep up to date with live action
from the box by going to the garden page on the playgroup website and following
the links. You can also see recorded “highlights” showing how the birds built
the nest from scratch. Hopefully we should
soon also be able to see some baby
blue tits! Second year children will be visiting Ben’s garden during the next
few weeks to see the nest box themselves and look at the live webcam pictures. Thanks
Ben for bringing us our own playgroup version of BBC Springwatch!
Roots and Shoots
It’s that time of year to get busy in the garden and the children have
already been planting seeds and young plants. Soon they will be growing some
potatoes and other vegetables outdoors and will also have a chance to see how
roots and shoots develop at close hand with some indoor planting. Fingers crossed that we have some vegetables
to harvest later in the term.
Garden Mornings
A big thank you to Helen and Ben for making a start on the jobs that
need doing in the Wildlife and Learning Garden. They will be looking for more
volunteers to help them over the next few weeks. It may be an opportunity for
that hour of peace and quiet that you know you deserve!
Helen writes :
Have you seen playgroup's wonderful wildlife garden? It is a beautiful spot behind the church, where you can take a walk through the trees, spot wild flowers, watch for birds and maybe even spot a squirrel.
As wonderful as the garden is, it does need a little help to keep it looking at its best. That's where you come in. We really need some helping hands to do some tidying up in the garden. You don't need to have green fingers, any knowledge of wild habitats (if you do then all the more reason to come along and impart your wisdom!) just be willing and able to pull a few out of place weeds and generally give the garden some TLC.
So please come along and lend a hand, enjoy a chat with friends and have a cup of coffee and a cake. Keep a look out for the next date that we will be doing a bit of gardening, a notice will be placed on playgroup's door.
Water Water Everywhere
Our theme for this term is “Water water everywhere”. This will give us
lots of opportunities for eco based activities, especially focusing on the
importance of water in our lives and ways in which we can conserve it. To help us, it would be useful if you could
draw attention to the different ways in which we use water in our homes and
gardens and any ways in which you might conserve water. We have already visited
Chrys’ pond with our second years, have been observing tadpoles and talking
about keeping safe near water so anything you can do to reinforce any of this
would also be useful. If you have any ideas on the theme of water or other eco
activities that you could help us with we would love to hear from you.
Dragon Travel
An understanding
of other countries and cultures is central to the Eco Schools programme. For
this reason we are asking any families going on holiday to consider taking one
of our “baby dragons” with them. They are very well behaved, don’t need feeding
or require their own ticket! The dragons just need to have a few photographs
taken at their holiday destinations and maybe send us a postcard whilst they
are away. Children love having an opportunity to explain to the others where
the photographs were taken , what the dragons were doing, how they got there
etc. Look at our “Dragon Travel” board for ideas, where you can see one of the
dragons on holiday with S and his family. This is a fantastic way of introducing
children to the differences in other countries and cultures but the destination
need not necessarily be exotic : we are sure that they would be equally happy
to explore their homeland of Wales! If you could take a dragon on a day trip or
family holiday please let us know.
Eco
Meeting
Our next Eco Meeting
is on Tuesday May 19th 8pm at the Lamb and Flag. Everyone welcome.
Stop
Press!
There are three
chicks in Ben’s blue tit nest! www.wickplaygroup.org.uk
Dear Anne and the Eco Committee,
Re: Eco Schools Assessment - 2nd Green Flag Award.
Many thanks for the time given by staff and Eco Committee last week. The
assessor was very impressed by the school's continuing enthusiasm for
the programme, and the level of staff and pupil involvement with
environmental issues raised by the programme. In particular, the
assessor noted :
"The excellent environmental work taking place at the playgroup and was
impressed by the level of understanding from such young children. It was
a pleasure to visit".
I am delighted to report that I have had notification from Keep Wales
Tidy that your second application for full Eco Schools status was
successful. The Award has been given without preconditions.
Congratulations once more!
Rheinallt Williams
Education Manager Keep Wales Tidy.
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Composting our fruit peelings
in the Learning Garden
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Picking up litter
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How much water do we use in a day?
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Don't waste water -
recycle it instead!
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Our Eco Code:
Be kind to animals
Be kind to plants
Be kind to our world
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