🌍🌳💧Eco-Schools Programme👫🔋🐞

Most young people care deeply about environmental issues and wish to make a positive change in the environment around them. The Eco-Schools Programme provides an ideal way for fostering environmental awareness in the entire school in a way that links to many curriculum subjects. The primary aim regarding the Eco-Schools scheme is to combine learning and action for the improvement of the environmental performance of Eco-Schools.

We began our Eco-Schools journey in 2009 and we have been awarded six Green Flags (The highest award). We have made many improvements in our school since 2009 in terms of Energy, Waste, Water, Litter, Transport, Healthy Living, School Grounds, Biodiversity, Global Perspective and Climate Change. The Eco-Members continue to ensure everyone takes an active role in reducing the environmental impact of our school.

The Eco-Committee 2023/24

Preparing the Growing Area

Mrs Kirk and Year 7 worked very hard to get the polytunnel and raised beds ready for Spring planting. 

🌿Outdoor Maths Activities📐

Year 4 take their Maths lessons outside. 

Dairy Council Workshop

Aaron from the Dairy Council talked to the children from Year 5 and 6 about the importance of having a healthy, balanced lifestyle. He explained about how to keep fit by eating healthily and exercising for a minimum of 60 minutes each day. 

Healthy Eating in Nursery

The children enjoyed making sandwiches with the cress that they had grown. 

👫Learning Outside🌤️

Year 1 enjoy taking their lessons outside. Here they are carrying out a Maths activity for Maths Day. 

👕👠Cash for Clobber👜👗

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our March collection. Lots of bags off to be recycled!

🌍Save Our World!👫

Year 4 want to encourage everyone to take action to reduce global warming. They learnt about how greenhouse gases are affecting the ozone layer and making the earth warm up. They want to help stop this from happening to save our world. 

👫The Big Walk and Wheel🚴

We had a great week of travelling actively to school. Everyone arrived at the gates smiling and ready for the day! There was a considerable reduction in traffic outside the school and we hope this trend continues in to the third term. Year 6 achieved the highest percentage of active travels over the week and received a little treat for their success. Well done everyone!

👫Garden Clean Up Day🌿

The children participated in a 'Garden Clean Up Day' organised by three very kind and helpful Grandparents. Hector, Gerard and Barney put the children to work and a great day was had by everyone! The garden area is looking much tidier and is now ready for some fun Spring activities. Thank you very much to the Grandparents for lending their time and services to St Columba's. 

👫Tidying Up!☀️

Year 4 pulled up some weeds that were growing in our beds at the front of the school. 

🌍Eco-Committee Assembly👫

The Eco-Committee held an Assembly to tell everyone about all the activities that they have planned for the next few weeks. Spring is going to be busy for everyone!

🎅🏻The Daily Mile Santa Run🏃‍♀️🏃

We had great fun participating in this very special Daily Mile! Lots of Christmas items to brighten up our run! 

🌟Ditch the Dark Day👫

Well done to everyone who put on their brightest outfits and travelled actively to school for Ditch the Dark Day! Remember to ensure that you wear something bright and reflective when near roads during the dark mornings and evenings.

👫Road Safety Week🚴
Every class participated in very important lessons and activities to reinforce the necessity for road safety when walking and cycling near roads. 

👚👞Cash For Clobber Collection👖👠

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our latest collection. 

🌍 Eco Assembly ♻️

The Eco.-Committee held an assembly to remind everyone about the importance of recycling. Everyone will help to recycle items in the correct bins in our school. 

🦋🌼Wildflower Garden🐞🌺

The children have really enjoyed exploring the wildflower garden. There is lots to see at this time of year. 

🌱Tasting our Radishes🌞

With the good weather our radishes grew so quickly. When we picked them we were surprised to see how much they had grown. 

👫Tidying Up🌱

Year 4 cut down the daffodils and pulled out weeds around the front of our school. 

🥗Tasting our Salad🌱

Year 4 picked some salad leaves and scallions from the salad bed. Everyone had a taste. It was that nice we had to pick some more! 

🚴Year 7 Cycling Proficiency Scheme🚴‍♀️

Well done to Year 7 who have completed their Cycling Proficiency Scheme. This programme helps pupils to develop their cycling skills, increase their confidence as cyclists and identify risks they may come across on the roads. 

🍰🍪The Fair Trade Bake Off🍩🧁

Year 7 held the annual Fair Trade Bake off event. Their challenge was to create baked products using lots of fair trade ingredients. Our judges, Mrs Anne Marie Henry and Mrs Roisin Dowds were blown away by the standard of baking but in the end awarded winners in a number of categories. All pupils in the school had the opportunity to view the wonderful display of cakes and bakes before having a chance to enjoy a tasty treat. 

💦Planting Radishes🌱

Year 4 prepared their bed and put the radish seeds in.

🚴Road Safety👫

Year 5 participated in a Road Safety activity with their Shared Education partners from Kilrea Primary School. It is important to stay safe as we travel actively to school. 

🌾Planting Wildflowers🌸

Miss Carville brought in packs of wildflower seeds for Year 4. They planted them in the polytunnel and will look after them as they grow. 

🌱Growing in Nursery🌞💦

Nursery grew some cress and when it was ready they made their own cress sandwiches. The cress characters look amazing too! 

🌱Ready for Growing💦

Our polytunnel has received a makeover and is now ready for every class to start their Spring growing. We cannot wait to see what we produce this year. 

👫The Big Walk and Wheel🚴
Well done to everyone who walked, cycled, scooted and even skated to school during the two weeks of ‘The Big Walk and Wheel’. We came 15th in our section in Northern Ireland with a score of 72.74%. Congratulations to Miss McKenna’s Year 6 who came first in our own Active Travel to School competition, with a terrific 88% active travels! Please keep going with the active travelling to school as we move towards third term and hopefully better weather.🌞

🌍☕️Fair Trade Fortnight🍌🍫

Every year we carry out activities to help us to learn all about the importance of supporting the farmers who provide us with lots of products from their countries. 

The Eco-Committee held an assembly to highlight the importance of supporting the farmers by purchasing Fair Trade products when possible. 

🌍Year 2 explored the journey of chocolate.🍫

🍊🌍Year 5 found out all about where the different foods come from.🍫🍌 

🌍☕️Year 3 made Fair Trade Posters🍌🍫

🌱Planting Bulbs🌺

Our Nursery children have been busy planting bulbs in the outdoor area. 

💦The Water Cycle🌍

Year 5 are learning all about the Water Cycle.

Our World in the Future

Year 6 illustrated how they hope the world will look like in the year 2030. Let’s keep working towards this goal. 

🎄Christmas Jumper Pop Up Shop🎅🏻

Thank you to our PTA for organising a ‘Christmas Jumper Pop Up Shop’. What a great way to reuse items that someone no longer needs. Let’s work together to help our planet!🌍

👫Ditch the Dark Day🚴

What a fabulous turn out for our ‘Ditch the Dark’ day! Everyone looked very bright and colourful, with some lucky winners receiving prizes. Well done to everyone who wore their bright colours and travelled actively to school! 

Road Safety Week Winner! 
Congratulations to Lucy on winning the Sustran’s Road Safety Poster Competition. 

👫Road Safety Week🚴

The children took part in important lessons to raise awareness of keeping safe near the road. 

Planting Daffodil Bulbs

Year 4 put daffodil bulbs in to pots before the Winter arrives. We cannot wait to see the daffodils when Spring comes! 

🌍Climate Change Day of Action👫

In preparation for Climate Change Day of Action on Thursday 3rd November, we participated in a range of activities to raise our awareness of the importance of reducing our carbon footprint. We signed the Relay Baton that is currently on its way to Egypt where COP 27 is taking place on 6th to 18th of November. 

👚👖Cash for Clobber Collection👞👕

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our last recycling collection! 

🚴🏻‍♀️Bike to School Week🚴🏻‍♂️

Well done to all the children who cycled to school to celebrate "Bike to School Week". They also participated in Cycling Workshops to further improve their skills!

💧NI Water💦

Year 5 were very lucky to receive a visit from Anna from Ni Water. Anna held a workshop on "The Water Cycle" and provided the children with lots of ideas on how to save water. 

🌸🌾Wildflower Garden🌺🌼

The flowers in our garden are in full bloom! We have all been to the garden and think that it is amazing! We are very lucky to have such a beautiful space to spend time in. We hope to have many learning experiences in the garden for many years to come. 

🌍Eco-School Council 2021-22👫

🌎Eco-Schools Green Flag Award♻️

Donnacha and Joe represented the school at the Live Here, Love Here Green Flag Awards in Portballintrae as the school received it’s sixth Eco-Schools Green Flag. Congratulations and thank you to everyone for all of their hard work! 

🌳Planting Trees🌳

The After School Club had a busy afternoon planting trees in our school grounds. 

🌎Litter Pick👫

Thank you to Year 4 for doing the Litter Pick for May. There wasn’t too much litter around the school as we use all of our bins.  

👫Walk to School Week 2022👫

Well done to everyone who took part in ‘Walk to School Week 2022’. The weather was dry and everyone enjoyed the walk each morning and afternoon. 

🦋🌼Wildflower Garden🌺🐝

There has been a lot of work going on in the wildflower garden area. The bird hide has been completed and the seating is in position. Everyone is excited to see what will happen next! 

🏃‍♀️Celebrating Ten Years of The Daily Mile🏃‍♂️

Everyone enjoyed the very special Daily Mile today! We celebrated 10 years of The Daily Mile by taking a group photo wearing our lovely Daily Mile tops. 

🌞Spring Planting🌱💦

Year 4 planted their radish seeds. They will keep them watered and will hopefully see some green shoots in a few weeks! 

🌎Eco After School Club🌱

The after school club worked hard to complete some gardening and tidying up jobs. Spring is a busy time.☀️🌧

🚴🏻‍♂️👫The Big Walk and Wheel🚴🏻‍♀️👫

A massive thank you to everyone who walked, scooted or cycled to school during ‘The Big Walk and Wheel’. The weather was on our side and we had a terrific 85.79% participation during the 10 days. Now that Spring is here, we hope to see everyone continuing to actively travel to school when they can, to help the environment and to keep us fit and healthy. 

Article 29 - Education must develop every child’s respect for the environment.

🌺Spring is Here!🌼

The Eco-committee spent a lovely afternoon in the sun adding some spring plants to their daffodils.

🌎Live Here Love Here Pollinator Grant🌾

Work has begun on our Wildflower Garden! Thanks to the Live Here Love Here Pollinator Grant that the school received, we will soon have a fantastic garden to spend time in and learn in. We are excited to look at the progress made each day and cannot wait until we can use it! 

Article 31 - Every child has the right to relax and play. 

🚴🏻‍♀️Cycle Skills Session🚴🏻‍♂️

Thank you to Johnny and Stephen from Sustrans who delivered a fantastic cycle skills session to some of our staff. We will now be able to hold our own ‘Ditch the Stabilisers’ and ‘Cycle Skills’ lessons with our class. 

Article 24 - Every child has the right to the best possible health. 

🌍🍌🍊Fairtrade Fortnight 2022🍍☕️🍫

Year 4 talked about the importance of farmers being paid enough money for their products. They hope their artwork will remind St.Columba’s to buy Fairtrade Products when they can. 

Article 24 - Every child has the right to the best possible health. 

🌍Keeping Our School Litter Free🌈

Article 29 - Education must develop every child’s respect for the environment. 

🌍Our Plastic Promise♻️

Year 3 made their Plastic Promise on behalf of the whole school as we try to eliminate plastic bottles and reduce the plastic bags/wrapping in our lunches. In doing this we hope that the St. Columba’s community will help work towards the reduction of plastic pollution. 

Article 29 - Education must develop every child’s respect for the environment.

🌍Our School Eco-Code👫

 Well done to Lucy in Y6 for creating the winning Eco-Code! Lucy’s entry was chosen by the Eco-Committee because of its positive environmental message and how bright and colourful it is. It will be displayed throughout our school. 

Article 29 - Education must develop every child’s talents.

Year 6 Speak Out For Change!

If they were in charge, the world would be a better place! Year 6 told us what they would do to stop Climate Change. 

Article 29 - Education must develop every child's respect for the environment. 

Year 7 Pupils enjoyed learning all about COP 26!

Article 29 - Education must develop every child's respect for the environment.

🛴Sustrans Silver Award🚲

Johnny, our Sustrans Officer, came to school to deliver some wonderful news. We have been awarded with the Silver Level Sustrans Award!  A big thank you to our entire school community for continuing to make a great effort to travel to school actively. 

🌟Ditch the Dark Day👫🚴🏻‍♂️

On Friday the 12th November it was a dull and rainy morning. The pupils and parents from St.Columba’s could all be clearly seen ‘glowing’ as they walked, cycled and scooted to school! Well done everyone! Remember to wear bright clothing so that you can be seen clearly when out in the dark mornings and early evenings. 

Lucy in Year 6 was the lucky winner of the scooter and helmet! Thank you to Johnny, our Sustrans Officer, who gave us the prize when we placed first in the Big Pedal last term. 

Article 24 - Every child has the right to the best possible health. 

🌞Outdoor Classroom Day🌍

We love being outside and needed no excuse to move the learning outdoors on Outdoor Classroom Day! Here are some of the activities we carried out in the fresh air. 

Article 28 - Every child has the right to an education. 

👕👞🎒Cash for Clobber👚👖👠

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our recent Cash for Clobber collection. We had a terrific response and have sent a lot of bags of unwanted items to be recycled. 

Article 29 - Education must develop every child’s respect for the environment. 

🌺Our Beautiful Wildflower Garden🌸

We were so excited to return to school to see how the wildflowers had bloomed over the Summer! The sight certainly took our breaths away. What a beautiful place to come to and appreciate the beauty of nature. We spotted so much wildlife coming to visit the flowers. 

Article 29 - Education should develop every child’s respect for the environment. 

Year 2 Harvesting their Radishes!

Year 2 were very excited to harvest their radishes. They checked on them every week and were amazed at how quickly they grew! They took them home to try out food that they had grown themselves!

Article 24 - Every child has the right to nutritious food. 

Awards for Kenzie and Bronwyn!

Bronagh Sweeney from North Coast World Earth came to award Kenzie and Bronwyn, along with their Granny, certificates and high-vis vests for their super efforts in collecting litter in their area. 

Article 29 - Education must develop every child's respect for the environment. 

Walk to School Week 2021

A great turn out again for our annual "Walk to School Week". Thank you to everyone who left the car at home (or at The Diamond!) and enjoyed the lovely Summer weather as they walked to school. 

Article 24 - Every child has the right to the best possible health.

Year 3/4 Protest Against Climate Change!

The children in Year 3/4 showed great passion for learning about the impacts of climate change and what they can do to help. They made wonderful posters and wanted to spread the word by campaigning to stop climate change!

Article 29 - Education must develop every child's respect for the environment.

Our New Wildflower Garden

Year 7 rose to the challenge of protecting our newly planted Wildflower Garden by designing and building their very own scarecrows. What a fabulous job they did too! We cannot wait to see how the garden progresses over the Summer. 

Article 29 - Education must develop every child's respect for the environment. 

Cycling Proficiency

Year 7 trained hard to perfect their bicycle skills and increase their confidence as cyclists through "The Cycling Proficiency Scheme". 

Article 29 - Education must develop every child's talents and abilities to the full. 

🚴🏻‍♀️Bicycle Session🚴🏻‍♂️

Year 4 enjoyed a special treat on Tuesday morning. Johnny, our Sustrans Officer delivered several bike skill sessions to help the children develop their balance and co-ordination. They learned a lot and also had lots of fun! Thank you Johnny. 

Article 29 - Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. 

🚴🏻‍♀️The Big Pedal Prize🚴🏻‍♂️

Johnny, our Officer from the Sustrans Active Travel to School Programme, came to school to present us with our Big Pedal Prize. As we came first place in the North East Region for our section, we were given a fabulous scooter and helmet! Thank you to everyone who participated throughout the Big Pedal. The children are definitely continuing the trend and we hope to see more active travels to school until the end of term. 

Article 24 - Every child has the right to the best possible health. 

Celebrating Earth Day at St.Columba's!

We all realise how important it is to take care of our world. We participated in a range of activities to learn a little bit more about how we can protect our Earth. 

Article 29 - Education must develop respect for the environment. 

The Big Pedal

We had a very successful Active Travel to School Event, where we had 86% of our children walking, cycling or scooting to school! We came 4th place in our category in Northern Ireland and an amazing 70th in the whole of the UK! Congratulations to everyone who took part and to all our adult supporters (parents/grandparents/childminders) who came out everyday to ensure the children were safe on their journey. 

🚴🏻‍♀️We are ready for The Big Pedal!🚶🏻‍♂️

Article 24 - Every child has the right to the best possible health.

Road Safety Competition

Congratulations to Sophia in Y5 for her fantastic Road Safety Poster. 

Article 29 - Education must develop every child's personality, talents and abilities to the full.

Protecting Our Earth!

It is important that we learn how we can care for our world. Year 2 know what they can do to make sure they help to keep the world clean and to try not to waste it's resources. 

Article 29 - Education must develop respect for the environment.

🌎St.Columba’s raise awareness of Fair Trade Fortnight☕️🍌

Article 27 - Every child has the right to a standard of living that meets their physical, social and mental needs. 

Home Learning with Sustrans Active Travel Programme

Our Sustans officer, Johnny, has been sending us some interesting activities to help keep us active and to continue teaching us about safe travel. Have a look at some of the activities we have been busy with!

Article 24 - Every child has the right to the best possible health. 

Year 5 Litter Pick

The children from Year 5 like to keep the school grounds tidy.

Article 29 - Children’s education should build respect for their environment.

Sustran's Poster Competition

Thank you to all the children for their terrific entries.

Here are the winners! Remember to wear bright colours and reflectors when outside walking and playing in the darker evenings.

Article 24 - Every child has the right to the best possible health.