Castle Douglas Primary School – Biosphere Explorers Project Delivery

A group looking at the Bumble Bee nest

The end of the Summer term saw the completion of the delivery of the Biosphere Explorers Project to Castle Douglas Primary School P5 class. The class had a workshop from Shalla Gray,the Project Officer, on Biodiversity and Conservation in the Biosphere, where they learnt the meaning of Biodiversity and how it is relevant to our lives in the Biosphere. The workshop ended with a biodiversity survey in the school nature garden, where the children looked for flowers, trees, insects and birds on a beautiful sunny day. The class was especially pleased to find a red-tailed bumble bee nest in a bird box, and a woodpigeon nest in an oak tree.

The class ready to begin their survey

The second workshop was entitled Climate Change and Sustainability and fitted with the class topic of Electricity. The Project Officer gave an introduction to Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change with a Powerpoint presentation, and then the children played a specially designed game called The Greenhouse Gas Board Game which helped the children to visualise the effects that humans are having on the atmosphere and climate, and how we can all do our bit to help. The game was really well received, with the teacher, Miss Mackintosh remarking that it would be an excellent teaching resource for any school, should copies ever be for sale!

The class playing The Greenhouse Gas Game

The third workshop took the children to Tongland Power Station – part of the Galloway Glens Hydro Scheme, by kind permission of Drax, who provided access and an excellent guide in the form of Rowan from the Galloway Fisheries Trust.

The children were fascinated to hear about the scheme and were given an introductory talk and then a look around the turbine building, followed by a trip out to the dam itself.

Rowan giving the children their introductory talk.

The class and teacher agreed that the workshops and trip had been great fun, with a round of high-fives and thank yous being given to the Project Officer at the end of the trip. Shalla would like to thank Castle Douglas P5’s and Miss Mackintosh for the opportunity, and also thanks to Drax for the opportunity to learn more about Tongland and the Galloway Hydro Scheme.

The beautiful turbine

The class out on the dam

Kindly funded by Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership and The Holywood Trust