Eco Team 2023-24

Welcome to this years Eco Team who are: Hristiana, Michaela, Jude, Blake, Violet, Evelyn, Molly, Liana, Maria, Dominic, Thomas, William, Aria and Alice.

We meet on a Friday lunchtime to discuss ideas about how to look after the environment both in and out of school.

Our first task this year was to remind parents about parking safely outside of the school in the mornings and afternoons.  Also we would like to encourage children to walk or cycle to school as this is a healthier alternative to the car and better for the environment.

This week we are doing a Parking Protest outside of the school gates to remind parents of their responsibilities when it comes to safe parking.

Peace and Pollination Garden Planting - Spring 2022

Some of our school Eco Team spent their lunchtime today planting some beautiful bedding plants in the garden to give it a splash of colour for the summer months.  Thank you to Olivia W, Molly M, Florence, Ana-Maria, Lilly W, Molly G, Oliver, Gracie P, Ralica and Evelyn for all of your hard work and to Corey for watering in for us.  Also a big thanks to Mr. Stuchfield, our new Site Supervisor who has spent a lot of time in the garden weeding and cutting back to prepare the raised beds for us.

Earth Day

Today was Earth Day and as a school we decided to celebrate this by switching off everything electrical (including all of the lights) and all computers, Ipads, kettles etc. between 2 and 3pm.  We read the electricity meters at the beginning of the hour and then again at the end of the hour to work out how much electricity we had used.  We will do this again next Friday afternoon (without switching anything off) to see how much we saved the first week.  

The classes all made good use of their time without electricity and gadgets - see the pictures below!

Fair Trade Assembly with Cardinal Allen High School

This morning the Eco Warriors from Cardinal Allen came to school to present a Fair Trade Assembly for the whole school.  They told us all about Fair Trade and that it is really important to buy carefully and try to buy Fair Trade products when we can.  We all made a pledge to try and buy just one Fair Trade item in the next week!

At the end of the assembly we all said a special Fair Trade prayer and joined in with a Fair Trade song which was really fun!

All the children were then offered a delicious Fair Trade biscuit at the end of assembly to enjoy during the morning break.

New Eco Team 2021-2022

I would like to welcome our new Eco-Team for this academic year and hopefully we'll have a great spring and summer implementing lots of new innovations/ideas into school to help us save our planet.

The new team are: Gracie P, Ana-Maria, Corey W, Lilly W, Kobey M-D, Ralica, Karolyn, Molly M, Olivia W, Oliver E, Molly G, Brendan R, Poppy, Tayson and Rex. Congratulations to you all.

Eco Team 2019- 2020

Congratulations to this year's Eco Team who are:

Mia, Demi-Doll, Natalie, Beau, Blossom, Harry, Abigail, Karolyn, Lucy, Violet, Blake, Oliver, Harrison and Merian.

More news to follow shortly regarding exciting projects we are currently working on.  Watch this space!!

Mothers Day

Last week the eco team created vases made from recycled materials for their mums and grandmas.  They were wonderfully creative and spent a lot of time, care and attention on their vases.  Well done and I hope your mums loved their presents!

January 2019 - bird feeders

Today some of the children in the eco team made bird feeders at lunchtime to take home for their own gardens.  Now is the time of year when it is particularly important to look after our local wildlife.

Beacon Fell trip Dec 2018

Today a group of children from Ringgold Class accompanied myself and some children from Larkholme Primary to help with the carving of the new stone snake which is now in situ.  We spent some time with hammers and chisels carving away at the snake and the children did an amazing job.  In years to come they will be able to take their parents and eventually their own children and say "look at that, I helped to carve the scales on that snake"!

We also went on a short nature walk, did some orienteering and den building.  As always the pupils were a credit to our school.

Fleetwood in Bloom 2018 - Gold Award

We have great news - our school took part in this years entry to the Fleetwood in Bloom competition along with Flakefleet Primary and Cardinal Allen High School.  Fleetwood was awarded a gold award thanks to some wonderful floral displays around the town focusing on the poppy, with it being the centenary of the end of the first world war.  Many community groups also helped out and it was great to see our town coming together to win such a prestigious award.

Eco Team 2018-19

Congratulations to the new Eco Team for 2018 - 19.  They are as follows:

Michael - year 6 - Captain

Molly - year 6 - Vice-Captain

Mia - year 5

Rositsa - year 5

Gracie - year 4

Zyien - year 4

Rosen - year 3

Layla - year 2

Ruby-Lea - year 1

Harriet - Reception class

I look forward to working with you on lots of exciting new projects this year.

Water Aid Assembly - October 2018

Today a representative from Water Aid came into school to talk to our Key Stage 2 pupils.  We learnt many important lessons about water including the fact that 844 million people around the world do not have access to clean water, Water Aid intend to remedy this by the year 2030 and it costs only £24 to provide water for 1 person for life.  Hopefully our children have taken on board the issues raised today and will strive to help with water conservation and fundraising.

The children who took part in this morning's assembly will be bringing home a water aid quiz after school today.  For any child who wishes to participate they will need to return the form to the school office by Wednesday of next week (10th October) and there will be a prize for the pupil with the most correct answers.  If more than one child has all the correct answers names will be put into a hat.  Please ensure children put their names on their quiz sheets. Many thanks.

School Gardens - June 2018

Our school gardens are looking wonderful and all our hard work is now starting to pay off.  The vegetables are starting to come through and the flowers are blossoming beautifully.

Fleetwood in Bloom - May 2018

Today some of the Eco Team walked down to Ash Street to help Dawn from Fleetwood Council with planting for this years Fleetwood in Bloom Competition.  The flowers for this year are red and white to tie in with the colour of poppies and the centenary of the end of the first world war.

Pollination Project - May 2018

On Wednesday of this week we continued our work on the Pollination Project.  The whole school took part and we spent a lovely day in the sunshine working hard to look after our bees and butterflies.  We spent time making bug shelters, planting pollinator plants and flowers, drawing chalk butterflies on the playground, filling our bug hotel with straw and taking part in a runaround pollination quiz.  The weather was kind to us and all the children joined in with great enthusiasm.

Yesterday we continued our work on the Polli:nation project.  Five of our children made a tour of our school grounds to formulate some ideas as to how we can help to save the bees and butterflies.  Amongst the ideas were to produce some artwork for our Peace and Pollination Garden, replant anything that has died with pollinator friendly plants, build more insect and bug hotels, make butterfly feeders for our trees and fences, plant a green roof on the insect hotel and plug all holes in it with sawdust, bark etc.  After half term we will be leading an assembly for the whole school to share our ideas with them.

Fleetwood in Bloom 2017

Over the past couple of weeks the eco team and some of our classes have been hard at work making home made planters out of recycled milk bottles in which to plant marigolds and trailing lobelia for Fleetwood in Bloom.  After much hard work these were finally ready and yesterday the team took them up to St. Mary's Church.  There they were met by Dawn from Fleetwood Town Council who helped us to display these on the church railings and also to plant more flowers in the church grounds.  Please have a look out for them when you pass the church on Lord Street.

The Fleetwood in Bloom judges will be visiting school on the afternoon of Tuesday 18th July, keep your fingers crossed for us and the rest of Fleetwood.

Trip to Manchester Museum of Science and Industry

Yesterday the Eco Team took a trip to Manchester to the Museum of Science and Industry.  This was an end of year treat to say thank you for all the hard work they have done throughout the year.  We had a wonderful day and the children were very enthusiastic and excited to look at all the exhibits, particularly the interactive ones.  Well done to the eco team for their great behaviour as always.

Fleetwood In Bloom

The Eco Team spent a lovely morning with Dawn from Fleetwood Town Council planting up a rowing boat at Ash Street for this years Fleetwood in Bloom entry.  We will shortly be planting more flowers in our home-made milk bottle planters along the railings at St. Mary's Catholic Church.  Please pay the church a visit to see all of our hard work.

Cayley Class - Habitats - Parents Afternoon

Last week Cayley Class spent a wonderful afternoon with their parents in our playground learning all about various types of habitats.  They also spent time with members of the Wyre Rangers team building a bug hotel to encourage insects and creepy crawlies into our school grounds to make their homes.

Fleetwood In Bloom 2017

Once again St. Mary's has been invited by Fleetwood Town Council to take part in Fleetwood's entry to this year Fleetwood In Bloom competition.  We have been asked to decorate the front of St. Mary's Church on Lord Street with marigolds and trailing lobelia.  We will be displaying these along the church railings in planters made out of empty 4 pint (2 litre) milk bottles which we will be recycling.  Could I therefore appeal to all parents to donate any milk bottles to school to help with this project, we actually need 80 milk bottles and so far have a total of 30.

We will also be planting up the rowing boat and horseshoe shaped planters at Ash Street after half term, dates to follow for any green-fingered parents or grandparents who may wish to join in, all welcome!

Recycling Club May 2017

Two members of our Eco Team Scarlett and Keeley decided that they would like to run an after school recycling club for our children to  design and make exciting and innovative creations out of junk.  We opened the club up to all children in school with many of our pupils having at least one session or more at the club. The children are proving to be very creative with some wonderful design ideas.  The last week of the club will be on Thursday 29th June and your child will be notified of which week they will be taking part.

Eco-Schools Conference March 2017

On Friday the eco-team attended this years Eco Conference at Cardinal Allen High School.  Along with four other local primary schools we had a tour of the school grounds to discover what Cardinal Allen have been working on this year.  Our highlight was meeting their guinea pigs, Salt and Pepper. Next we took part in an eco-quiz.

We then did a short Power-Point presentation to show the other schools the projects we have been working on this year including the Polli:nation project, the great egg-case hunt and the World Wildlife Fund sponsorship of a panda.  A big thank you to all the team who read beautifully even though they were slightly nervous. I'm proud of you all. Mrs.Tew.

Cat Smith - MP

This afternoon we had a visit from Cat Smith our local MP.  Cat was delighted to be invited to St. Mary's and spent time looking around the school and meeting the children.

Cat then officially opened our new Peace and Pollination Garden and met with the Eco Team who told her all about our plans for the future of the garden. 

The afternoon was finished off with Cat taking part in our whole school celebration assembly.  Cat said she thoroughly enjoyed her visit to school.

Peace and Pollination Garden

Many of you will have noticed that our Peace and Pollination Garden is now complete and ready to use.  It looks great and will look even better when the plants start to grow and fill out the spaces.  We will be putting in some bedding plants in the spring to give the area some colour.

Cat Smith our MP has very kindly agreed to take part in an opening ceremony for the garden on Friday afternoon 10th March.  She will be shown around the garden by our eco team and will have the opportunity to look around our school, meet the children and see all the wonderful things that we are doing here at St. Mary's.

Wonderful News

Over the summer we made a bid to the Big Lottery Fund Awards for All to have the area outside of the school kitchen redeveloped.  Our bid was entitled "Peace and Pollination" and we were seeking to create a relaxing zone where children can spend some quiet time and also to create a new habitat for bees and butterflies both of which are endangered species.

We have been lucky enough to be awarded a grant of £8,790 and designs/plans have already been drawn up.  Work will begin shortly and will hopefully be finished in the new year ready for the spring term.  I will post photos on our website as work develops so children and parents can see the progress being made.

Eco Promises

All children in school (and staff) have now made their Eco Promises and some members of the Eco Team spent their lunchtime hanging them on the Eco Tree in the school foyer.  Please remind your child to also keep their eco promise at home. Many thanks.

Eco Tree and Creepy Crawly Towers

We now have a wonderful Eco Tree and bug hotel in our school foyer.  This has been created by one of our grandparents Joanne Jones and I would like to say a huge thank you to her for all of her hard work.  The children spent last week in lunchtime workshops creating the bees, butterflies and dragonflies to finish off the display.  All of the pupils in school will shortly be writing eco promises which will be hung from the branches of the tree.  Please feel free to come and have a look at this fantastic creation just outside of the school office.

Wyre Estuary Country Park November 2016

We had our first eco trip of the year this week to Wyre Estuary Country Park in Thornton-Cleveleys.  We were accompanied by Mr.Harding from Cardinal Allen High School who led the activities which included a litter pick and den building in the woods.  The weather was cold but we were well wrapped up and the children had a wonderful time.  Well done to all for your enthusiasm and exemplary behaviour.

New Eco Team for 2016-17

Exciting news, after receiving many wonderful letters of application for this year's eco team we now have our new team in place.  Well done to Lamiha Mashrufa - Captain, Keira Fotheringham - Vice Captain, Mckenzie England, Scarlett Edwards, Keeley Robinson, Hannah Wilson, Keiyara Ranasinghe, Summer Dean, Lucas Randles and Tia Mullaney.  We have lots of exciting projects to continue with this year including the Pollination Project and we will be making lots of eco sculptures to display around the school.  Yesterday we had our first trip out of school to Wyre Estuary Country Park - photographs to follow soon.

Fleetwood in Bloom

This summer we were lucky enough to be asked to participate in Fleetwood's entry for this year's North West in Bloom.  Over the last couple of weeks of term some of our children were involved in planting bedding plants in recycled shoes and boots which were sprayed red, white and blue to remind us of the Queen's 90th birthday earlier this year. 

The judges were shown around school by our very proud eco team and later said that they were highly impressed with St. Mary's and that the enthusiasm shown by our children was outstanding.  Well done to all involved.

Pollination Project

As I mentioned before St. Mary's has been chosen to take part in a countrywide Pollination Project along with another 259 schools. We will be attempting to make our playground Pollinator friendly with the aim of preserving our bees and butterflies etc. Last week we took part in an initial pollination survey and counted the number of bees that we saw in a ten metre square area in two minutes.  We then identified the different types of bees and reported our results on the Pollination website.  Later in the year after we have made adaptations to the playground we will redo the survey and hopefully the number of bees will have increased.

Beacon Fell June 2016

On Tuesday of last week the Eco Team took a trip up to Beacon Fell with Mr.Harding from Cardinal Allen as our guide. It was a wonderful, hot and sunny day and the views were beautiful.  During the day we took part in a mini-beast hunt, pond-dipping, den-making and orienteering. We had lots of fun and learnt many interesting facts about nature and wildlife.

Shark's Trust - Great Eggcase Hunt

With over 600 species of skate and ray worldwide, at least 16 species have been regularly recorded in UK coastal waters; most of these species reproduce by laying tough leathery eggcases on the seabed. Of more than 30 species of British sharks, only two species lay eggcases that are commonly found on our beaches; the Smallspotted Catshark and the Nursehound.

Each eggcase contains one embryo which will develop over several months into a miniature shark, skate or ray. Once empty, the eggcases often wash ashore and can be found among the strandline on beaches.

The Great Eggcase Hunt aims to get as many people as possible hunting for eggcases that have either been washed ashore, or are found by divers and snorkelers underwater. In recent decades, several species of shark, skate and ray around the British coast have dramatically declined in numbers. The empty eggcases (or mermaid’s purses) are an easily accessible source of information on the whereabouts of potential nursery grounds and will provide the Trust with a better understanding of species abundance and distribution.

Our school eco team visited Fleetwood Ferry Beach last week to collect eggcases.  We spent a lovely afternoon in the sunshine hunting for mermaid's purses and then brought them back to school to identify the different species we had collected.  We then reported our findings online to the Shark's Trust. 

World Wildlife Fund news

As we mentioned before Easter the children all voted to pick an endangered species to support through sponsorship by the school. The choices were Tiger, Lion, Blue Whale or the Giant Panda. The votes were counted by the eco team and the final winner was the Giant Panda.  More news to follow when we receive our sponsorship pack

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Eco Hat Competition - Easter 2016

During Easter we held a competition for the children to design and produce a hat made from recycled materials.  We had many wonderful hats arriving at school with some fantastic designs and a huge amount of effort from all who took part.  The hats were made to help in the funding of our school sponsorship of an animal through the World Wildlife Fund.  The winning animal was in fact the panda.

The winners of the  hat competition were Tristan Jones, Connor-Joe Lloyd and Amelia Wilson with Zyien Thomas getting a special commendation. Well done to all who took part.

Bee/Pollination Assembly - Wednesday 13th April 2016

This morning we held an assembly to teach our children more about bees and the pollination process.  Later on this year we will be taking part in a Pollination Project with many other schools across the country to protect bees, moths, butterflies and many other insects which are becoming endangered in the UK.  This will include planting fruit trees around the school grounds and workshops in classes. More information to follow at a later date.

WWF Assembly March 2016

The Eco Team decided that they would like to school to adopt an animal and help to save an endangered species.  They put together an assembly for the whole school to talk about the work of the World Wildlife Fund.  After the assembly the whole school voted which animal they would like the school to adopt, lion, tiger, panda or blue whale.  The results of the vote will be announced after Easter.  The whole school have been set eco homework for the Easter holidays; to design and create an eco hat made out of recycled materials.  They can use any theme and the wackier the better! All hats will be entered into a competition at a small charge of 50 pence and the money raised will go towards sponsoring our chosen animal.

Welcome to our new Eco Team for 2015-16

Alfie Swarbrick - Head of Eco Team, Abigail Egan, Ethan Thomas, Lamiha Mashrufa, Holly Egan, Katie Rambsottom, Jade Thornley, Amelia Wilson, Corey Dell, Tia Davies, Gabriel Dickinson

Eco Fashion Show 2016

Last Friday the eco team took part in the annual Eco Fashion Show at Shakespeare Primary School.  We spent the morning creating our outfit mainly out of old clothes and swing bin liners.  After lunch we had a practice on the catwalk and then parents came to see the show later on in the afternoon.  The children had lots of fun designing and making their outfit and came up with some ingenious ideas.

Eco Schools Conference 2016

Our eco team took part again this year in the annual conference at Cardinal Allen High School.  We had a tour of the school looking at their eco work and then all the primary schools showed powerpoint presentations of their own work.  We also took part in an eco challenge to make an exhibit out of junk; we decided on a family of hedgehogs.  The competition was judged by Mr. Cafferkey, the Acting Headteacher and we won first prize!  Katie also won first place for St. Mary's in the eco schools quiz so well done to all involved!

Big School Birdwatch Assembly

Mr Harding from Cardinal Allen High School came in to do a birdwatch assembly for the whole school.  It was really interesting and the children were involved in identifying lots of different species of birds, they were all very enthusiastic.

Green Flag Award

May 2015 - We have been awarded our Green Flag after many years of hard work.  Congratulations to the Eco Team and all the pupils and staff at St. Mary's.

Making Soup

Yesterday we harvested some of the vegetables that we have grown in our raised beds.  With the help of the children we made our own vegetable soup.  This was offered to all the children as a starter before yesterday’s lunch.  Many of the children tasted and really enjoyed our homemade soup and some even came back for second helpings!

Pocket Park

Today Demi, Dustin and Keira visited Pocket Park along with pupils from the other Fleetwood Schools.  We planted geraniums in the St. Mary’s raised bed.  This is all part of the work of Fleetwood Rotary Club and our bid for Fleetwood in Bloom.  Also we have been involved in planting Nasturtium seeds in old trainers to help win the award for Fleetwood.

Water Aid Assembly and Pipeline Challenge

Today in school we held a Water Aid Assembly and then the whole school took part in a Pupil Pipeline.  The children learned that millions of people across the world do not have access to clean, safe drinking water, sanitation and toilet facilities.  We formed a human chain and passed buckets of water along the line trying not to spill a drop. The children really enjoyed the challenge and had lots of fun.

Wyre Rangers

Yesterday we were joined in school by members of the Wyre Rangers team.  We spent a very pleasant afternoon planting lots of fruit and vegetables in our raised beds including potatoes, carrots, onions, radish, cabbage, red and green lettuce and strawberries. We also planted Clematis, Honeysuckle and Sweet Peas.  Many of the children were involved and will help us to look after our plants over the summer.

Fleetwood Carnival

This year we took part in Fleetwood Carnival with our Eco Float which we turned into a Recycling Centre.  The weather was dreadful on the day but it didn't dampen our spirits, we had a wonderful day and our float won first prize!

 Eco Fashion Show 2015

Today our green team took part in an eco fashion show at Shakespeare Primary School.  The children created a wonderful "Valentines Day dress" and this was modelled on the catwalk by Abigail Egan.  Their ideas were really creative and we all had a lot of fun.  Thanks to the eco team for their exemplary behaviour.

Fair Trade Assembly

Today in school we had a Fair Trade Assembly presented by the Eco Warriors of Cardinal Allen High School.  We are teaching our children all about Fair Trade and how as a school we will endeavour to help eradicate poverty and injustice for all.

Bird House and Table

Holly and Abigail Egan and their granddad Bob very kindly made a bird table and bird house for our school playground.  Thank you so much to them for all their hard work, the new additions to our playground look wonderful.  Please have a look when you're passing, they are in the Reception Class area of the playground.

Trip to Rossall Point and the beach

On Wednesday (11/02/2015) The Eco team  visited Rossall point and the beach. .We spent the afternoon doing a strand line survey and analysing what we found, we met the coastguards and had a trip around the watch tower guided by the Wyre Rangers volunteers.  All the children really enjoyed the trip and were a credit to the school.