WHEN THEY picked up the overall prize at last year’s Streets Ahead Awards, Thorntree Primary were the first school to do so.

Their inspiring efforts to improve and connect with their local community struck a chord with the judges, who praised their hard work and devotion to the Shettleston area.

As well as organising regular litter-picks in the playground and surrounding streets, Thorntree pupils plant bulbs at Shettleston Railway Station, take their choir around nearby nursing homes and deliver harvest food parcels to elderly residents who live across the road.

Parents are involved in everything from reading groups to zumba classes and even sing in the nativity at Christmas and the school works closely with a whole raft of community organisations, from Shettleston library and Fuse café to Greenfield Care Home and Shettleston Garden Growers.

They celebrated receiving their fourth green Eco flag last year and embarked upon a new planting programme in the playground, turning their harvested potatoes, carrots and green beans into soup.

Do you know of a school like Thorntree Primary who deserves to win a Streets Ahead award?

The Streets Ahead Awards, hosted by Glasgow City Council and supported by our other partners City Charitable Trust, City Building and Scottish Fire and Rescue, pay tribute to the men, women and children who improve their communities for the benefit of all. As well as a prize for the best school, we will be presenting trophies for the best garden, best clean-up campaign, best environmental initiative, best community garden, best community initiative and best business initiative.

Send us your stories and your photographs, and as much information as possible about your project, in time for the closing date of May 3.

To nominate yourself or someone else, visit the dedicated awards website at https://newsquestscotlandevents.com/events/streetsahead/

You can also email lyndsay.wilson@heraldandtimes.co.uk or call 0141 302 7407.

We will be awarding eight prizes, including an overall winner to be announced at the event on Thursday, June 15 in the People’s Palace Winter Gardens.

The best garden prize will be presented to the best residential garden, while the clean-up campaign category celebrates the best clean-up initiatives taking place across the city.

We want to hear from people who have come together to tidy up their local area, whether it’s a street, gardens, allotments or even a park.

The Best Environmental Initiative Award will be presented to city’s best ‘green’ project, whether it’s a recycling scheme, a road safety initiative or something completely different, while for the best community garden category, we will be looking for gardens which are used by the whole community.

The winner of the best community initiative category will be an exceptional example of a project which encourages people to work together, which has gone the extra mile to make a real difference to people’s lives.

The Green Glasgow Business Award will be presented to the company, large or small, which has played its part in keeping Glasgow clean and green and the schools award will be presented to a nursery, primary, second or assisted support for learning school which can demonstrate what contribution it has made to its local community.