Last month, to celebrate Scotland’s Climate Week and OH-COP1 (the first Outer Hebrides Climate Conference), local schools from across the islands engaged in climate-friendly activities to reduce their carbon footprints. This year’s participating schools showcased their incredible climate efforts through a number of eco-friendly initiatives, reflecting their dedication to climate action and environmental stewardship. Let’s take a closer look at each school’s inspiring efforts and achievements!
Primary Schools
Leverhulme Primary School, Isle of Harris
Highlight: Cycle to School Week
Leverhulme Primary reduced their transport emissions by promoting their Cycle to School Week. Watch their inspiring video here.
Sgoil Bhreascleit, Isle of Lewis
Highlight: Beach Clean
Sgoil Bhreascleit students got together with Clean Coast Outer Hebrides to clean up their local beach, removing litter from the shores to protect the environment.
Sgoil an Rubha, Isle of Lewis
Highlight: Local Ecology and Biodiversity lessons
Sgoil an Rubha focussed their lessons on local ecology and biodiversity, learning all that they could about their surrounding environment. The school pledged to support local wildlife by building more habitats to support the ecosystem.
Pairc Primary School, Isle of Lewis
Highlight: Beach Clean
Pairc Primary School also organised a beach clean-up that successfully removed an impressive 21.4 kg of rubbish from their local beach!
Tong Primary School, Isle of Lewis
Highlight: Food Miles Reduction
Tong Primary investigated the environmental impact of where their food comes from, looking into the concept of “food miles” and the benefit of sourcing locally produced items.
Sgoil Ùige, Isle of Lewis
Highlight: Litter Picking
Sgoil Ùige kept the environment clean by carrying out a litter pick around the Timsgarry loop, collecting seven bags full of litter!
Secondary School
Sgoil Lionacleit, Isle of Benbecula
Highlight:
Sgoil Lionacleit hosted climate change awareness workshops and assemblies, and completed an impressive litter pick to remove pollutants and plastics from their local environment.
All the schools mentioned in this blog successfully completed their environmental challenges for OH-COP, and will be awarded a Climate Cup in recognition of their hard work and dedication to a more sustainable future. While these schools are the overall winners, we’d like to recognise the efforts of all the other schools who participated in OH-COP week, doing their bit for the environment and helping to protect our islands.
We look forward to next year’s event, where we hope to see even more schools across the Outer Hebrides driving climate action in their local communities!