Recently we worked with S1 pupils from Hillhead High School in Glasgow, to provide support for their John Muir Award. Two of the students have written a blog about their experience and we'd like to share them with you. We'll be showcasing the activities of the S1 pupils at the Kelvin at the Kibble exhibition hosted by the Kelvin Biodiversity Network in the Glasgow Botanic Garden Kibble Glasshouse, from 16-29 May.
‘Keep Scotland Beautiful’ is one of the many different John Muir groups we did on Fridays last period. I enjoyed the last couple weeks of Keep Scotland Beautiful because I liked going outside to Kelvingrove park. It was nice seeing animals like squirrels and birds as we walked to our spot every Friday.
We did different things each week. On one week we went to a hill in Kelvingrove and litter picked for the full hour; it wasn’t the best thing to be doing on a Friday afternoon but I enjoyed it more because I was with my friends and we were helping the park be less littered. In the end we got quite a lot of rubbish and I think we helped the park stay cleaner.
Another week we went in the park again and interviewed passing walkers. We had a sheet to fill out and we were asking them questions e.g. “From 1-10 how clean do you think the park is?” “How often do you come here a week?”. It was fun because we went in groups with friends and we got to see what other people thought of Kelvingrove. And another week we went around the park recording sounds; it was nice because we really got a chance to listen to what was going on. So in the end, I really enjoyed working with "Keep Scotland Beautiful”.
It was a good experience and to be honest it is one of my favourites of the other John Muir activities we have done so far. It was also great to get the chance to help the park.
By Sofia
One of my favourite activities to do was a “Park Cleanliness” survey where me and my friends went around the park asking members of the public about how clean they think the park is, one of my favourite moments of that activity is when my friend went to do a survey with a member of the public, they *almost* tripped over the ice.
I believe this is a very effective way on getting feedback on Scotland’s green areas, this was my favourite activity because I really like social activities and interacting with people I don’t know.
I think it was important I took part in all of these activities because it was a great outdoor learning experience you don’t get to take part in often, and it was really fun when you fully immersed yourself in all of the activities that were set for us.
Kelvingrove Park in my opinion is one of the best parks in Glasgow, but it could be much better, it’s not fair that tourists or people from abroad come to enjoy how beautiful Glasgow is, but our park is covered in litter at the fault of us, that’s why I wanted to contribute to making Glasgow a cleaner place for everyone to see,
Litter is a serious problem in Glasgow parks, that’s why I wanted to help clean it up.
By Sam
A display of what the students at Hillhead achieved will be displayed at the Botanic Gardens as part of the Kelvin at the Kibble exhibition, which takes place from 16-29 May.
