Merlwood Nursery Awarded Silver Eco Award.

Ecoschools work by children

Merlwood Nursery in Lenzie has been awarded a Silver Eco Schools Award for its efforts to promote environmental sustainability, the second step on the way to achieving the ultimate award, a Green Flag.

Our Eco Song Tune: Here we go round the Mulberry Bush At Merlwood Nursery we take good care, take good care, take good care, at Merlwood Nursery we take good care, of our beautiful world. We put our litter in the bin, in the bin, in the bin, we put our litter in the bin to care for our beautiful world. We recycle and re-use and re-use and re-use, we recycle and re-use to care for our beautiful world. We turn off the lights when it's bright, when it's bright, when it's bright, we turn off the lights when it's bright to care for our beautiful world. We recycle and re-use and re-use and re-use, we recycle and re-use to care for our beautiful world. We turn off the taps and don't waste water, don't waste water, don't waste water, we turn off the taps and don't waste water, to care for our beautiful world. We recycle and re-use and re-use and re-use, we recycle and re-use to care for our beautiful world Our Eco Code is to Reduce, Re-use and Recycle.

Children and Nursery teachers at Merlwood Nursery invited Lenzie.org.uk in to see the fantastic work they have been doing to learn how to reduce, re-use and recycle. This is a progression from last year when the nursery registered with Asda "Go Green" for Schools and collected vouchers for reusing shopping bags and bought a crocodile litter picker which the children loved learning how to use picking up litter around the Nursery.

The children raised £567 for Barnardos Big Toddle as part of health and well being under the ecoschools scheme by walking around Millersneuk playing field with the help of P6s from the school. They have also learned how to  to make lemonade and soup.

The children have raised money to adopt a Siberian Tiger called Lyuti through the David Shepherd Wildlife foundation by paying 10p to borrow books brought in by other children for swaps.

Outside, they have been searching for bugs in a woodpile, putting up bird feeders (a great idea this winter), studying butterflies, measuring rainfall and even conducted a bird survey. The nursery with the help of the Scouts, buys as much as it can locally and recycles bottles, cans and plastic bags. They have also started recycling old phones and donating them to the Woodland trust who plant a tree for each phone donated. The Eco Schools programme is managed in Scotland by the charity Keep Scotland Beautiful and funded by the Scottish Government. The Silver Award is the second step on the way to achieving the ultimate award, a Green Flag.

Lyuti:Siberian Tiger

The children and teachers have clearly put in a huge effort and commenting on the award Jo Swinson (our local MP) said:

"Teaching children about environmental sustainability is hugely important, not just because it is their future which will be affected by climate change and environmental degradation, but because children are great campaigners. Quite often it is children and young people who end up encouraging their parents to recycle and use less energy, rather than the other way around. Over 50 schools and nurseries in East Dunbartonshire* have won Eco Schools awards - that's an amazing achievement and I'm sure they will continue to find new ways to become greener."