We moved into our new build 2-18 campus in 2020 and were awarded a grant of around £9,000 from Keep Scotland Beautiful to start a garden in the school grounds. We have a polytunnel, raised beds and a small orchard and are planting native trees for biodiversity. Last year we donated tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes to our local Lunch Club. Our Primary children also took part in the Dandelion Project enthusiastically growing potatoes at home.

Our S2 year group (approx 70 children) have just received Carbon Literacy certificates from Keep Scotland Beautiful. Their Climate Change Pledge was to plant trees at out new campus to mitigate flooding in the town and every child planted a tree with help from Scottish Borders Forest Trust and the Woodland Trust who donated the trees. They have also gained John Muir Discovery Awards based on the River Jed as their wild place.

Meanwhile, in our school garden our Primary 5 children are working with our intergenerational volunteers to grow flowers and vegetables, providing biodiversity and food.  The crops grown over winter in the polytunnel (spinach and pak choi) have been used to make pheasant stir fry by our Home Economics students. The pheasants were donated by a parent, rather than being disposed of after a shoot, and then prepared by students. The intergenerational volunteers come into school every Tuesday afternoon to work with the children. The older members of our community who volunteer benefit from the company and interacting with the children and the children enjoy time outside, learning gardening skills and developing their communication skills. The volunteers recently came runners up in the Best Group category of Volunteer Centre Borders "Loving our Volunteers " awards.

We are grateful to our local Co-op who gave us money to build another raised bed (built by the Criminal Justice Team) and to our fantastic community who continue to donate top soil and manure to fill it. 

We also have an enthusiastic Eco Committee and are working towards our first Green Flag.