Eco Council

The Eco Council in Knockmore Primary School are on a mission to create a brighter, greener and more sustainable future.

We’re embracing the Sustainable Development Goals in our learning as we believe in the power that our education can have in making a positive impact on the world. These 17 Sustainable Development Goals unite the world in creating a better world for everyone - from ending poverty to protecting our planet and guide our learning journey.

In Knockmore Primary School we love to learn beyond the classroom and the Eco Council are keen to develop our outdoor learning space further this year as we discover and embrace real-world challenges and seek to find solutions. As a school we want to play our role in building a sustainable future. 

We hope that as we educate ourselves, one lesson at a time, about global goals and sustainability we will nurture a passion and grow in the knowledge of these to become leaders in the future, equipped to make a difference and have a positive impact on our planet.

It’s an exciting journey towards a sustainable, thriving future! 

Well done everyone on a very successful project!

With thanks to Ricky Parker Photography for showcasing the finished area.

They created areas to build fake campfires to play and learn around and have even toasted marshmallows and had real smores in this area too! 

They have bug friendly spaces…

They created and resourced areas to den build…

They planned their project - created a project proposal and carried out research into costing of their idea and how to resource it and who they might need to talk to. They then used their designs to transform the area, with help from a grant from Belfast Healthy Places Healthy Children…

These pupils decided they wanted more trees and green space in which to play and learn and so they set about transforming an area of our school grounds into a woodland area…

Over the past couple of years, our Year 5 & 6 pupils and the Eco Council have been involved in a project with Belfast Healthy Places Healthy Children, where they decided on an area of their local environment they could like to change and then set about transforming it. 

Look at our potatoes now! They will soon be ready for digging.

Our strawberries and Swiss chard…

Thank you to all of the parents who donated plants and came along to fill our new raised beds with their children. 

Eco Councillors invited the whole school to take part in the NI Assembly Eco Competition to design the new image for the Eco Bag.

We have been very busy planting some spring/summer flowers around school…

We planted some mixed flower seeds…

Signs of Spring…our bluebells are appearing…

Eco Councillors ran a Pop-up Science Gadget Shop as part of Science Week events….

Eco Councillors have delivered signs to each of the classrooms to remind them to turn their lights off before leaving the room. The Eco Council police will be checking! 

Eco Councillors hard at work making bird cake…

Eco Councillors checking up on their bird feeders to see how much has been eaten and if they need to make any more!

Engine Off Prevent the Cough!

Year 5 have been campaigning to prevent vehicle idling outside our school at drop off and pick up times. They have put up banners, posters, made posters of their own, given out pledge cards and carried out a survey to determine the no. of vehicles idling (stopped with their engine still running) outside our school. 
Keep watching out to see if the efforts of Year 5 help to promote cleaner air around our school…we will be carrying out another survey soon to determine the impact of our efforts! 

Year 6 taking part in their Game Changers Workshop…learning lots about Global Justice, how this fits in with the Sustainable Development Goals and how they and all of us can play our part in helping to create a fairer world. 
All the very best with making your games and the rest of your Fairtrade Topic!

Outdoor Learning in Art - inspired by Andy Goldworthy…

Our snowdrops are starting to peep through…we’ll keep checking but it shouldn’t be long until the are in bloom.

Eco Councillors check out school grounds for waste when they are out and about…

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P2 had a busy morning learning more about recycling and making their own paper pots to plant a seed in. 
P2 have taken these home to look after and encourage mums and dads and grannies and grandads to get involved in growing things too!

  Pre-loved Uniform!

We provide a pre-loved uniform service in Knockmore PS. This helps to reduce waste and ensures uniform is easily accessible for everyone in our school community. 

Maths lessons outdoors…

Forest School lessons in our new woodland area…

School Councillors hard at work planting snowdrops, bluebells and ferns in our new woodland area…we look forward to hopefully seeing these add some colour to our woodland area later in the year…

Prize winners in our Easter Fairtrade Raffle…

Keep choosing Fairtrade and bringing in your wrappers, there will be another Fairtrade Raffle at the end of June!

We’ve made links in our community for Fairtrade - we partnered with our local Co-op during Fairtrade Fortnight again and this year we made 30th Birthday posters to display in the window to raise awareness of this milestone for the Fairtrade Foundation…

School Council planned and led Fairtrade lessons for the whole school during Fairtrade Fortnight.