Dunard Primary School is in a very mixed catchment area in the North West of Glasgow. My year started with the Maryhill Canal classroom, which linked to the Heritage Award. This allowed my class to learn about the value of water now and throughout history. We investigated the many infrastructures and industries that appeared along the banks and looked at child labour and schooling during these periods.
A constant theme throughout are work is the Sustainable Development Goals. This work allowed us to make connections to SDG 13 and SDG 14 as we examined how to protect and maintain a profoundly beautiful part of Maryhill infrastructure.
With input from the pupils we created a new topic building on the learning around the local community. We called it Urban Creep.
Flood risk and local impact
Starting with the water cycle, we moved on to look specifically at how trees absorb water. Using images taken from 3 different time periods, we analysed Urban Creep and the destruction of land from our local area and the inevitable impact this had on the ecosystem. Supported by Annelies McMillan, strategic planner from Scottish Water, the pupils explored drainage systems including what should and should not be put down the toilet and why. After investigating Smart canal technology we focused on our own playground and the runoff ever present in an inner city school with concrete playgrounds.
Call to action
The class was set the task of finding a way to reduce run-off, inform adults of Urban Creep, and explore the issue of sanitation and pollution both here and overseas.
With this aim in mind, we researched plants that would absorb the most amount of water to be planted in our school garden through a day of action. This was due to happen on the last week of term, however, despite being unable to go ahead with the day of action, one of my learners and I planted all 350 tree bulbs donated to the school!
A shared perspective
Materials from Oxfam and the collaboration with Annelies opened up our learning to examine what was happening around the world and in different parts of our own country. Learners became more aware that drought occurs in Scotland and floods occur in Maryhill as well as in parts of Africa and Australia. We used the Book ‘The Flood’ by Alvaro F. Villa as our class novel study. A resource that looked at floods from a family perspective and allowed for greater emotional literacy and personal connection around such a disaster. Ultimately pupils developed an understanding that we, as human race, face these things not ‘people over there’.
Postscript
I wear odd socks every day, this is a deliberate act that I have been doing for a few years now. Why? Because my son calls me Player 1. Player 1 is the player you start with at the beginning of a game on Fifa with no upgrade and no outstanding skills that make me an individual. So I wear odd socks. My aim is to teach my class that we are all unique and that it is ok to be different and that choosing different paths and maybe showing yourself to the world as unique is a beautiful and wonderful thing.
As a mum, I strive to teach my children the value of education and of their voice. I want my children to understand that the power to change systems comes from within each one of us. That no one person is Player 1 and that wearing odd socks is my way of reminding them and my class that they hold the power, each and every day, to mould change. Progress is progress.
