Blackfriars Primary

At Blackfriars we want all our children to experience the many benefits of playing and learning outdoors and in nature. We are lucky to have our Enchanted Forest, vegetable plots, polytunnel and sensory garden, as well as our trim-trail, playgrounds, pitch and astroturf, to offer a variety of outdoor and natural environments. We plan activities that deliver elements of the curriculum outdoors in order to give our pupils' learning a real-life context and therefore enhance their understanding and application. Learning outdoors brings many other social, emotional and physical benefits, which can be read about in the article below. We have consulted with parents and students about Outdoor Learning to enable us to deliver a programme that takes account of their needs and wishes. Outdoor Learning is part of our School Improvement Plan and we have an experienced teacher who is responsible for developing our outdoor spaces, creating resources, delivering outdoor experiences and training staff.

Each year, an element of each class' planned curriculum, will investigate Learning for Sustainability issues, such as food journeys, threatened wildlife or climate change. At Blackfriars we consider it vitally important for our pupils to take an informed and active role in caring for and improving our local and global environment, particularly given that their own futures will depend on it. The Sustainable Development Goals are displayed in each classroom and our curriculum planning is linked to them.  All pupils will experience sustainable food growing and harvesting and will have opportunities to plan and deliver environmental initiatives. This session, all classes grew and harvested the vegetables to make a pot of soup. Recently we planted our own orchard and every child in the school planted spring bulbs.

Blackfriars Eco Committee At Blackfriars we have a long tradition of being an Eco School.  Recently we were thrilled to achieve our sixth Green Flag, which is an award given to schools that are consistently planning for and taking actions to benefit our environment. Each year, pupils from P4-7 are given the opportunity to volunteer to become an Eco-rep and they are voted for by their classmates. The Eco Committee’s first job is to review our progress and identify actions that need taken. In recent years we have developed our school gardening programme, targeted plastic waste and promoted energy saving across the school. This session our Eco Committee are re-launching our Healthy Tuck Guidelines, organising Fairtrade Fortnight activities and a bake sale and are involved in developing an Eco Walking Trail around The Gorbals.