06 Oct Ambassador Eco School Review
Ulidia Integrated College was very proud to be asked in 2014 to become Ambassador Eco School by Eco Schools Northern Ireland for the ‘global dimension’ area of study. During the three year term of Ambassadorship the team and whole school have benefitted from the programme in a number of ways including;
In 2015 Ulidia Integrated College hosted a national operator meeting when the national leaders of over 30 other countries visitied Ulidia to experience eco schools programme throughout our whole school, from recycled musical instruments to stewardship ion RE. Indeed Ulidia regularly shares examples of ‘good practice to local, national and global educators through social media and through our delivery partners. This included hosting a cluster meeting for local teachers regarding global education.
Ulidia Integrated college has been used as a case study by Translink, the Global Learning Programme and also by ISL recycling to showcase the excellent work being done by the committed learners within the college. This has highlighted the profile of Ulidia Integrated College throughout Northern Ireland.
The eco team have also worked hard to develop links with local primary schools; three local primary schools were invited to attend our annual Greenday event in 2017 to learn with our learners on site during the day, our neighbour school, Acorn Integrated Primary, also visited the geography department during Integrated Education month to learn together about fair trade with year 8 learners. The Eco team is very proud of their sixth form mentors who visit Acorn Integrated Primary school each Friday afternoon to work with the p5 class on local environmental activities.
Within our community the eco team have shown commitment to their local coast line with regular litter picking activities at the Castle area and at Loughshoure. These litter picking events have also included inviting local primary schools to come and work with us, and local businesses such as ISL recycling, and the Ulster Wildlife trust. Parents have also joined in with the team making the group a true Ulidia family event.
Ulidia integrated College has also had the opportunity to develop international links with Madagascar with the twinning of two eco school groups. This has led to opportunities for our learners to converse with our twinned group and to also learn about each other’s home environment. The two groups worked together to write an article for the ‘Young reporters for the Environment’ programme which gained both groups an international collaboration award.
Being Ambassador school for Eco Schools Northern Ireland has been a privilege and an honour for Ulidia Integrated College, and has brought about many opportunities for the young learners within our college.