Green Flag award for Kilgraston
Kilgraston is delighted to have been awarded our first Eco-Schools Scotland Green Flag Award. The Eco-Schools Green Flag is a global award given to young people making a positive environmental impact.
The award judges praised Kilgraston pupils on their commitment and determination, with specific mention to how Kilgraston’s Eco-Code gives a clear message of our mission in how to contribute to the solutions of climate change.
Kilgraston’s stunning countryside campus in rural Perth is already home to red squirrels and a myriad of wildflowers and native trees. Pupils in our Junior School have been monitoring the growth of a hedge, planted in 2009 and now home to many animals and birds.
Our recent COP26 Activities Fortnight also received high praise, as it allowed the students to learn about marine conservation, sustainability and to think about the future.
Kilgraston’s Eco-Committee have been dedicated to achieving the Green Flag Award. Dr Phillips, Kilgraston’s Head of Geography said:
“This has been a long time coming! Our original Action Plan pre-dates the first lockdown, so it is to the credit of the girls in the Eco-Committee that they have been able to maintain their focus on achieving this award, and keep the faith that we could get there in the end. We have to renew this award every two years, though, so this is just the beginning…”
Kilgraston attends schools conference
Kilgraston pupils Phoebe and Katie recently attended a schools’ conference where the discussion centred around steps, we could take to improve the world. The European Sacred Heart Schools Conference saw pupils from Sacred Heart schools around the world take part virtually in stimulating workshops and lectures looking at ways we could work together to protect our planet.
In the breakout sessions, Katie and Phoebe spoke about how they were both members of the school eco committee and how our the fortnight of activities in school during COP 26 helped Kilgraston pupils become better informed about the environment. They also mentioned various school campaigns we have undertaken such as the campaign against single use plastics.
For months now, Kilgraston’s glass corridor has been a sea of colour and powerful messages regarding the environmental issues we are currently facing. In one of the breakout sessions, Katie and Phoebe highlighted this project and how it helped to send daily reminders to the school community about the beauty of the natural world and the creative and informative lessons the glass corridor has given us all.
As well as sharing our own initiatives, the event also gave the opportunity to hear from other schools and Sacred Heart representatives including two from Sacred Heart United Nations NGO Office. So, with luck some of what was discussed at the event, could be filtered through to the headquarters of the United Nations.
Kilgraston’s Eco-Committee - the Plastic Free School award
Kilgraston’s Eco-Committee delivered an assembly this week on Surfers Against Sewage. Read more below:
Surfers Against Sewage was set up in 1990 by a small group of people who were appalled by the conditions of some of Britain’s coastal waters.
Since then, they have been constantly active, organising beach clean-ups and campaigning for better regulations, and are now turning their attention to the marine plastic problem.
More than 12 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean every year, and Surfers Against Sewage are now campaigning to stop that.
One of Surfers Against Sewage’s newer projects is the Plastic Free Schools Award, towards which Kilgraston is now working.
We have already cut down on the number of single-use plastics used in school, but the Eco-Committee have more in store to help us to become as plastic free as we possibly can.
Please help by cutting down on your use of single-use plastics, and by donating to Surfers Against Sewage at: www.sas.org.uk/donate.
Written by Eco-Committee members Upper Four’s Phoebe and Alexandra
Kilgraston supports Show The Love campaign
Kilgraston is showing our support of the national Show The Love campaign by encouraging our pupils, parents and staff to send green hearts to their politicians.
The Show The Love campaign is organised by The Climate Coalition, the UK’s largest organisation dedicated to climate change. It aims to promote people’s involvement in building a cleaner and greener world and this year, it is asking everyone to send a green heart to their elected Member of Parliament to show their love of our planet.
Kilgraston has an on-going commitment to protecting the planet and Headmistress, Mrs MacGinty, held an assembly focussing on the Show The Love campaign.
In her assembly, Mrs MacGinty showed the video below from the Climate Collation which aims to inspire us to all work together.
Also taking part in the assembly were some of our Upper First pupils who discussed the ways we can help stop climate change, showed us their pictures on the subject and Minnie specifically highlighted the importance of bees to our world.
Kilgraston becomes Laudato Si’ School
In 2015, Pope Francis penned what was to become an important encyclical letter called, Laudato Si’.
The letter explores a number of topics relevant to the climate crisis. It incorporates scientific, theological, economic and sociological perspectives, among others. It draws on evidence from a number of diverse sources and uses the example of St Francis of Assisi as a guide for reframing our views on consumerism and stewardship of the earth.
The letter was addressed to “every person living on this planet” (#3). In doing so Pope Francis indicated that the letter was intended for not only to the international Catholic community, but all people, reinforcing the urgency for each and every one of us to take action to care for our common home.
Now five years on, in honour of its anniversary, Pope Francis is inviting schools to sign up to become ‘Laudato Si’’ schools and this month both Kilgraston Senior and Junior Schools have held special assemblies accepting this invitation.
Kilgraston’s Headmistress, Mrs MacGinty said: “In his letter, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis asks us to love God, look after each other and protect the world. He tells us about the challenges we are facing in our world and asks us to make things better.
“That is why we want to become a Laudato Si’ School, to love God, look after each other and protect the earth.”
In the Laudato Si’ letter Pope Francis highlights the importance of looking after our planet, writing, “The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all” (#27). And yet, “The exploitation of the planet has already exceeded acceptable limits and we still have not solved the problem of poverty” (#27). “In fact, the deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet” (#48). It is our responsibility to educate those around us on the urgency at hand, to change our ways of thinking about societal norms and structures and reconnect with creation in a meaningful way that allows us to experience God in all things. That is the great hope and the great challenge of Laudato Si’. Change is possible, but it will not be easy. Thankfully, we find courage in knowing that we have a righteous cause and a loving God. Fortified in this, we dare to face questions like: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” (#110).”
Now Kilgraston is committed to Laudato Si’, another example of our commitment to looking after our planet, and we look forward to many activities throughout the year to show the vital role schools play in changing the world.