IT is tucked away behind a quiet and fairly anonymous housing estate in south-east Glasgow. But behind the walls of Merrylee Primary School an educational revolution is taking place.
Urban Jungle is just right for kids to play in
IT is tucked away behind a quiet and fairly anonymous housing estate in south-east Glasgow. But behind the walls of Merrylee Primary School an educational revolution is taking place.
For the school - which is less than a year old and only a stone's throw from its previous site - can lay claim to being the greenest in Scotland.
Instead of the traditional concrete playground the pupils use a natural play area which has been dubbed the Merrylee Urban Jungle.
It will have hills, long grass, a flower garden and eco-friendly features including badger set and fox's den.
The youngsters played a part in designing the new school which is predominantly made of wood and is insulated with old newspapers.
Children check that the teachers are eating enough fruit and veg during the day and are affectionately known as the "fruit police".
The school even has its own wind turbine which generates 12% of the building's electricity.
Headteacher Liz Mahindru said the environmental drive has made a huge difference to the pupils' education.
She said: "Recycling, litter picking, planting, growing, healthy living is very high on our agenda.
"The children are all members of committees and they organise these things for the school.
"They make sure that we remember to switch the lights off and pick up our litter - they are called the "fruit police" and they come along and make sure we eat enough fruit and things like that.
"I think if you come into our school any day you will see us all with big smiles on our faces because it's a fantastic place to work and learn.
"It's a lovely environment, it's calm, it's relaxing. We have a natural ventilation system, there is no air-conditioning, it's all natural and that makes a big difference to the conditions that we learn in."
Merrylee is the first school in Britain to have a natural play site, which has been supported to the tune of £30,000 by the Forestry Commission and Glasgow City Council.
The rest of the funds came from community groups and fund-raising by parents.
Ms Mahindru added: "The most exciting thing about the site is that it's been designed by the children.
"They worked with Felicity Steers, who is a parent and a landscape architect, and came up with the design of the Merrylee Urban Jungle.
"Their plans were drawn up and here we are today, not quite ready but almost ready.
"What they wanted was long grass, hills, places where they could take safe and measured risks.
"They'll be able to run up and down these hills, there will be a big old oak tree lying down there, there will be a bridge for them to run across, they will be able to play around in the wild flowers - and all this in the middle of an urban housing estate.
"In the long term we hope this will be a community resource.
"I have learned a lot about conservation and ecology since coming to the new school, my passion is getting children outdoors.
"Too often now I think they spend too many hours outwith school sitting in front of televisions and computer screens but we have to provide places for the children to play.
"We have to stop wrapping our children up in cotton wool and allow them to go out and learn the benefits of natural play environments and the ability to take risks."
Two of the pupils who helped design the play area were enthusiastic about the project, even though they leave Merrylee this week to move onto secondary school after the summer.
Stewart Neil, 11, said: "When we first found out about the adventure play area we were all buzzing but we had no idea how to design it.
"We went on a trip to Balmaha on Loch Lomond to another adventure play area and that's where we got all our ideas from.
"In the area we have mazes, trees with scramble nets over them, places that you could sit and long grass.
"You have to be proud to think that you've helped in building this.
Morgan Wood, also 11, said: "The people in the allotments nearby have been quite helpful and have given us some apple trees and they have made it more eco-friendly than we could have by ourselves.
"The rest of the pupils are really looking forward to it and they hope it will be better once all the grass has grown - they can't wait till they get into it.
"I will definitely come back and play on it. It's really good to feel that you've designed something like this and helped design a natural play site, it's really good."
Learning the local way
SOUTH-EAST Glasgow can also boast another educational achievement - the biggest secondary school in Europe.
Holyrood Secondary, in Crosshill, has a roll of more than 2300 pupils and employs 153 teachers.
The Catholic school opened in 1936 and now has 54 classrooms, 14 information and communication technology rooms, 20 science labs, nine technical rooms, a gymnasium and swimming pool.
It is also one of Glasgow's top performing schools, with recorded exam pass rates well ahead of the national average.
Among its former pupils are Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr, Olympic athlete Lee McConnell, actor Joseph McFadden, Travis lead singer Fran Healy and footballers Alan Brazil and Chris Burke.
The area's further education institution is Langside College, established in Mount Florida in 1947.
It now has more than 10,000 students - many from outside the EU - and offers courses on five main campuses and in a number of community venues.
Apart from the main campus on Prospecthill Road, the others are in Rutherglen, Toryglen, Castlemilk and Govanhill.
