Clough school is the best in the Province

Clough school is the best in the Province

21 June 2017

CLOUGH’S Cumran Primary School has been named the best kept school in Northern Ireland.

The village school is buzzing after winning the coveted title at the annual Amenity Council awards ceremony, with pupils impressing the judges with a variety of initiatives including sharing their playground with wild bees.

The Clough school — which was presented with a trophy and cheque for £200 — came out on top in the annual awards which drew 100 entries from 33 schools across the Province.

Cumran had already scooped the award for being the best school in the south eastern region, but the pupils had no idea they would be be crowned Northern Ireland winners when they attended last week’s ceremony.

Mrs Ailsa Brown, the Clough school’s eco co-ordinator, said everyone is delighted with the double success and plans are already in place to take part in the Sustrans active travel programme when the new term commences in September.

She explained while the best kept awards used to focus on keeping schools tidy, the emphasis is now very much on pupil involvement in a variety of projects, including those focusing on the environment and working with outside organisations.

“We have always taken on new projects at Cumran and try and encourage the children to learn about sustainability and encourage them to take care of their school environment. We also hope the interest we generate for them in school will continue when they go home,” said Mrs Brown.

“The emphasis is on doing our bit for the environment and the pupils monitor how much electricity the school uses each week to see if we can reduce how much we use. We recently saved £150 which principal Mrs Rhonda Moles allowing us to use the money to buy a night vision camera. We are fortunate in being allowed to reinvest any money we make from our initiatives back into environmental projects in the school.”

Mrs Brown revealed the school has a clothes recycling bin and the proceeds from this, and the money saved by recycling ink cartridges, is reinvested in eco projects.

“We have an outdoor classroom containing a range of flowers which was funded via a grant from Learning Through Landscapes, while vegetables the children grow are harvested and given to the canteen staff to cook. We focus on getting the children outside and encourage them to engage with the outdoors and they really enjoy what they do,” she continued.

“We have parents and grandparents helping us and have also been supported by the RSPB. Parents come in occasionally to show the children how to dead head flowers which means the pupils are learning all the time.”

Mrs Brown recalled her surprise at last week’s awards ceremony when Cumran Primary was named the best school in Northern Ireland.

“We knew we had won the south eastern region award, but when they called our name out as Northern Ireland winners it was a big shock. I had to turn to pupils Daniel Bingham and Matthew Hamilton who were with me just to make sure I had heard the announcement correctly,” said the delighted teacher. “I could not believe it.”

Mrs Doreen Muskett, President of the NI Amenity Council, said the standard of applications received from all schools this year was extremely high and with almost 200 applications, judges faced a difficult challenge in choosing the overall winner and regional winners.

She added: “Cumran Primary displayed a fantastic example of the whole school working as a community for the benefit of the pupils, teachers, parents and the environment around them.

“The entire school is involved in the care and development of the grounds and the pupils are enthusiastic about recycling and all aspects of the environment. One element which stood out for the judges was that the pupils share their playground with wild bees. The best kept school initiative is a fantastic opportunity for schools of all sizes to work with their pupils and educate them about civic pride and their environment in a practical way.”