Ballynure Primary School has been working on various sustainability projects through its Eco Schools program. Last year an Eco Committee was formed and this year students have been conducting audits of water usage, biodiversity, waste, and other areas. Students have participated in activities to help birds and other wildlife by building insect habitats and bird boxes. They have also focused on reducing litter and promoting healthy living. The whole school community is working towards nurturing nature and becoming better stewards of the environment.

1. Ballynure Primary School OUR SUSTAINABLE WORK

2. How we organise our school lives and work so that we don’t destroy our most precious resource – The Planet. Becoming sustainable

3. THROUGH ECO SCHOOLS PROJECT

5. What next? What do we do well and what can we improve? Our school audit! Water Biodiversity Waste School Grounds Healthy Living Energy Global Litter Transport Complete an Audit

6. Mr Devlin and the Eco Committee conducting audit

8. Plant flowers to attract insects like butterflies and bees Put up bird feeders , bird tables, bird boxes and plant hedgerow suitable for sustainable feeding. Create habitats for minibeasts Develop small pond to attract wildlife. Look after hedgerows for animals such as hedgehogs Biodiversity

9. P1 and 2 had a visit from Karen Sheild from the RSPB. We learned lots about how to look after birds and other wildlife. Karen brought in a garden display story mat to teach us about how our gardens change throughout the year. We then made worms for the birds to eat. We decorated the worms with raisins, which we soaked in water so that they wouldn’t swell up in the birds’ tummies. We stuck the worms onto some trees in our school grounds.

10. P3 had a visit from Karen Sheild from the RSPB. The P.3 pupils were really excited to get a visit from the R.S.P.B. and we think Ballynure Primary School has excellent grounds for bird-watching. To start off with we had to guess the name of the birds and Mrs Wolfe was so pleased that we got them all right. We were sad to hear that the birds find it hard to get food and shelter at this time of year and it was a real treat to get to make some bird-feeders to hang outside school. We each covered the top half of a pine cone with some bird food mixture and popped on two Cheerios for eyes and a water-soaked raisin for a beak. They looked like owls and we’re sure the birds thought they were simply delicious.

11. P4& 5 finding out how more insects mean more birds! When Karen from RSPB visited P4/5 she taught us the important role of insects in the survival of many of our garden birds. We discovered that due to our changing climate, many of our common insects are not breeding in the numbers that they once did. To help feed our birds P4/5 built insect habitats; one for ladybirds and another for earwigs. By building these habitats the insects have a comfortable place to build their nests and produce their young, which will in turn become a great meal for wild birds. As our topic is water, we were curious as to how birds used water. Karen explained to us that for birds, water is just as valuable for bathing as for drinking, as water helps to weatherproof their feathers to survive the cold weather. We will be placing our insect habitats and bird baths in the school grounds to ensure our birds keep returning year after year.

13. Primary 7 BIRD BOXES We managed to talk ourselves into joining the Primary 5 and 6 afternoon session and participated in a third activity exploring how birds have adapted to suit the environment in which they live. Karen came back and gave a series of lessons on how climate change is affecting the life of seabirds. We have thoroughly enjoyed having Karen with us and are looking forward to finding out how our choices impact birds globally. The RSPB was really pleased to see that last year we had installed half a dozen bird boxes in an attempt to attract Blue Tits to our grounds. She suggested we follow on our good work and to think about creating nesting boxes for house sparrows, so Primary 7 were given the important task of making bird boxes for house sparrow. Mr. McKernon, kindly pre-cut the boxes, ensuring the entrance whole was an exact 32mm We hope to have these erected along one of the walls in a ‘terrace’, as house sparrows like to live next door to each other. We really enjoyed the opportunity to use real tools and think we made a pretty good job of it!

14. ECO DISPLAY BOARDS

16. P1&2 led our LITTER project! with a little bit of help from the P7s We're Going Green So We'll Keep Our School Clean!

19. P2&3 led our Healthy Living activities!

20. We nurture, Our nature !

21. We nurture, Our nature !

22. We nurture, Our nature !

23. We nurture, Our nature !

24. Go Global, Grow Local

25. Go Global, Grow Local

28. Ballynure primarySchool is guided by its commitment to CARE . Care for oneself – Care for each other – Care – for the environment –

29. We’re Going Green So Keep Our School CLEAN!

30. Healthy Living - teeth