| School name: | Salen Primary School | |
| School/college address: | Pier Road
Salen Aros, Isle of Mull Strathclyde PA72 6JG Scotland | |
| School phone number: | 01680 300348 | |
| Lead school: | Salen Primary School | |
| Partner schools: | Our school consists of 4 units & is bilingual | |
| Number of pupils in school(s) - male: | 36 | |
| Number of pupils in school(s) - female: | 36 | |
| Number of staff in school(s): | 8 | |
| Name | Position (e.g. Headteacher, parent, etc.) | Organisation |
|---|---|---|
| Miss Catriona MacPhail | Gaelic medium teacher | Salen Primary School |
| Mrs Nancy MacLean | Mainstream teacher | Salen Primary School |
| Ms Caroline Davies | SEN worker and parent | Salen Primary School |
| Mr David Sexton | RSPB, Mull warden | RSPB |
| Ms Jan Dunlop | Countryside Ranger | Forestry Commission |
| Mr Alistair Lamont | Fisheries Biologist | Argyll Fisheries Trust |
The key skills, strengths and roles of each team member are: (200 words)
Catriona MacPhail
Interested in matching curriculum content with real-life practical science and people working in the field, also with producing Gaelic materials. Holds a BSc Agriculture and 10 years' practical experience prior to teaching. Currently establishing school garden, hedges and composting. ISE (Improving Science Education) trainer.
Nancy MacLean
Runs the GLOBE weather recording programme. Interested in initiating a whole school approach to scientific investigations and cooperation between small schools. Will develop whole school programme for future years and establish topic boxes for shared use.
Caroline Davies
Has a degree in Botany/Zoology. Worked in conservation for 20 years with RSPB, SNH and SEPA. Will oversee infants & nurseries building small animal habitats.
Dave Sexton
Has worked for 25 years in conservation, including the reintroduction of sea eagles to Mull and for the BBC Natural History Unit. Wide experience of web cams and CCTV.
Alistair Lamont
Keen to raise awareness of freshwater habitats and the species that live in them. Will establish the fish hatchery.
Jan Dunlop
Experienced in leading children through practical conservation tasks and will show them how to build bird & bat boxes.
Topic area of proposal: Processes and Living Things - Ecology/environment
Briefly, the aim of our proposal is: (50 words)
• Build on the foundations of scientific learning already in place.
• Integrate individual class investigations as a whole school coordinated plan, reflecting our bilingual status.
• Create a sustainable resource that will benefit all pupils now and in the future (and can be shared with other small schools on our island).
• Build bridges between school, parents and the wider scientific communities and environmental agencies in our region.
• Increase pupils’ self-esteem and sense of ownership of the school through working together (citzenship).
Pupil type to benefit: All
Age range to benefit from proposal: 3-11
Learning outcomes from our proposal: (50 words)
• Foster respect for the environment and engender lifelong interest in the natural world.
• Encourage positive attitudes to observation and data recording in various forms.
• Gain practical experience of conservation and ecology tasks.
• Reflect on how creative human activity can increase biodiversity in any small garden area.
Our reasons for developing this particular proposal: (100 words)
Monitoring data over time is necessary for scientific research, allowing trends to be spotted and action taken when species are endangered. All pupils have the opportunity to partake in this valuable activity and contact with the professionals in the field allows them to appreciate its importance and gain a sense of pride in themselves for participating. Firsthand observation of nature is a more memorable experience than secondhand knowledge from book/Internet, and will also teach responsibility as the pupils care for the animals in their school grounds.
Detailed description of our proposal: (300 words)
Senior classes will build nestboxes (different designs for varying species) and bat boxes with Jan Dunlop and site them with Dave Sexton. Junior and nursery children will build minibeast hibernation homes, hedgehog and toad hideaways and suitable habitats for lizards/slow worms.
Tuff cams and binoculars will allow all ages of pupil to observe and record activity from classroom or playground. A bird hide will be built in the school garden to increase unobtrusive observation. A nestbox with built-in camera and a wireless outdoor camera kit (to record day and nocturnal activity) will be sited. This will allow greater scope for surveying wildlife, compare and contrast exercises with data handling opportunities (maths), observe lifecycles, daily/nightly routines and seasonal changes, become confident in species identification, experiment with feeding regimes (eg, type and siting) and to appreciate the biodiversity around our school while taking steps to further improve it.
The children visit the sea eagle hide and web cam at Loch Frisa each year, so they can compare this to their own set up and see what kind of data can be recorded. A fish hatchery will be established with advice and licences obtained from Alistair Lamont, which will take locally harvested salmon eggs and rear them to a suitable stage for release into the river from which they came. This will be an annual undertaking with different classes being involved in the day-to-day care each year, so that all pupils have a chance to rear fish and meet local gamekeepers and biologists during their primary education. Bilingual information boards on the lifecycle of the salmon will be designed by the pupils, complementing the practical activity (and bilingual CD-Rom that we already possess).
Topic boxes for birds and fish will be resourced for use throughout the island by schools, nurseries and community groups.
Outline of how our team would implement our proposal over a period of not more than 24 weeks: (300 words, bulleted lists accepted)
Week 1
• Team meeting with pupil council and Headteacher.
• Arrange and coordinate dates and deadlines.
• Order resources.
• Identify parental volunteers through the next school newsletter and Parent Council.
Week 2
• Children design bird hides.
• GMU 3-5 datalog temperatures outside their classroom (intended fish site).
Week 3
• Jan Dunlop to begin bird & bat box building with seniors.
• Juniors to begin minibeast, toad, hedgehog & reptile habitats. (CD)
Week 4
• Pupil council and (DS) assess bird hide designs and pick the best aspects to include in final design.
Week 5
• All children to draw a British bird on paper (for interior of hide).
Week 6
• Team meeting to assess progress and amend accordingly.
Week 7:
• Begin to site completed bird and bat boxes (DS).
• Ranger-led building of hide with parental volunteers.(JD)
Week 8
• Install fish tanks, connect to water sources, check coolers, pumps, filters etc.
• Datalog the water temperature.(CM)
Week 9-11
• Ann MacDonald & Mairi Bowman (teachers with art-school degrees) released from class to supervise all children (nursery to P7) painting their bird picture on the interior of the hide.
• Senior classes (Gaelic & English) research salmon and design bilingual display boards for siting outdoors at the fish hatchery. (CM)
• Initial meeting with Alastair Lamont.
Week 12
• Team meeting.
Week 13-20
• Display boards sent to print.
• Installation of cameras and problems sorted (DS).
Week 21
• Fish eggs due to be harvested in February for transport to school (CM & AL).
• Pupil council to coordinate press releases (with pictures).
Week 22-23
• Whole school to prepare display for an open afternoon/ evening.
Week 24
• Team meeting to review project, pupil learning and attitudes. Work out future plan so that all children get the chance to experience all areas (weather recording, composting, wormery, waste management, fish hatchery, birdwatch survey, wildlife recording, working in school garden with soft fruit, flowers & veg, and continual improvement of wildlife habitats). (NM)
The monitoring procedures we will use during the project are: (200 words, bulleted lists accepted)
• A video of significant events and diary will be kept by Catriona MacPhail.
• The opinions of pupil council will be sought in their fortnightly meetings.
• Pupil knowledge through the research and design processes will be monitored by class teachers and noted during our regular staff meetings, as can the enthusiasm of pupils in class discussions and practical tasks.
• Favourite activities can be displayed at the front of school on the eco-school notice board and in the termly newsletters.
• Our newly appointed headteacher has started whole school assemblies each week (primary & nursery, Gaelic & English, all together) and is keen to use this time to implement appropiate tasks, enthuse pupils and monitor learning and attitudes.
• Monitoring of the fish hatchery will be by phone with Alastair Lamont and by inviting suggestions and advice from local gamekeepers and fish farmers on the island. We are keen to make links with these local professionals.
• We will also write up a separate account for the hatchery detailing problems encountered, their resolution and tips for future successes (a self-help manual).
• Increased pupil knowledge will be visible in the display boards that they've researched, and in their ability to talk about the subjects they've been involved in.
The evaluation procedures we will use at the end of the 25 weeks to check the effectiveness of our project are: (200 words, bulleted lists accepted)
• Evaluation of attitudes will be seen in the thoughts and opinions of pupils expressed in press releases and displays for the open event.
• Enthusiastic pupils also tend to take home ideas and insist that their parents help them to carry out similiar tasks at home.
• We will also be able to gauge the reactions of parents and local community at our open event.
• We value opinions on the project and suggestions for improvements from professionals in environmental sciences and ecology and will invite our regional Biodiversity officer, local professionals etc to view our work and speak to the pupils.
• After the open event and invitations we will hold a team meeting to review the whole project and identify things we would improve in the future.
• Invitations will then be extended to other schools to visit and pupils will guide them around.
• We would also show the topic boxes and invite comments on their use and suggestions for future inclusion.
• Twilight sessions would also be offered to teachers, who are usually very forthright in their views of a project's usefulness!
Itemised costs of putting your proposal into practice within a maximum budget of £5,000 or equivalent in Euros:
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