North Ayrshire school pupils win Keep Scotland Beautiful award for environmental project
Posted on 16 Jul 2024
Delighted P6 pupil Erin Brown with the award.
Dalry Primary School has been announced as a winner of this year’s Young Reporters for the Environment.
The North Ayrshire school’s Primary 7 class won the video category for 11-to-14-year-olds with their entry, which is called Bin It!
Young Reporters for the Environment is an environmental journalism programme delivered by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful on behalf of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).
The programme gives young people the opportunity to share their thoughts on environmental issues they feel strongly about through writing, photography, and videos.
Dalry Primary School beat 24 other schools from ten local authority areas, with Moray’s Gordonstoun Junior School finishing second and Sacred Heart Primary School in South Ayrshire taking third place.
Pupils from Dalry Primary School explained how they are helping to care for their local environment and the planet as a whole by taking on projects at school like recycling, minimising waste and keeping their playground free of litter.
Headteacher Louise Syme is delighted with the pupils’ success, and said: “The short video shows the children talking about the importance of keeping the playground tidy and litter free, how vital it is for us to protect oceans and wildlife from plastic pollution and the importance of separating waste for recycling.
“Our pupils are very aware of environmental and climate change issues, and I am really pleased that they have won this award.”
Catriona Rae, Education and Learning Officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, added: “On behalf of everyone at Keep Scotland Beautiful I’d like to say a huge congratulations to Dalry Primary School for winning this year’s 11 to 14 age category.
“We had some amazing entries from all over the country and voting was extremely difficult with such a great variety of projects to choose from.
“The one constant from all submissions was the passion displayed for the issue each topic addressed as well as the understanding of a need for positive action and I’d like to thank everyone for their excellent entries.”
The winning entries can be viewed at Keep Scotland Beautiful’s online gallery, and you can watch the Dalry Primary video here: https://tinyurl.com/4uaes2f7
Councillor Shaun MacAulay, Cabinet Member for Education and Young People, said: “it is very encouraging to see young pupils doing their bit to protect the environment locally, and also helping to spread the message about the impact of littering. Congratulations to everyone at Dalry Primary.”
Keep Scotland Beautiful is celebrating 30 years of the Young Reporters for the Environment in 2025. You can help the charity celebrate by sharing how and why you keep Scotland beautiful.
Visit Young Reporters for the Environment | Keep Scotland Beautiful for more information and to view all the 2024 winners.