Scottish woods award won by Underbank Primary School

Out of the whole of Scotland, Underbank Primary School's pupils were the outright winners of the Scotland's Finest Woods Awards' Crown Estate Schools Trophy.
The Underbank group collect their prizes.The Underbank group collect their prizes.
The Underbank group collect their prizes.

The school described that feat as a “fabulous achievement”.

The award is to encourage and reward schools that increase young people’s understanding and appreciation of the environmental, social and economic potential of trees, and woodlands, and of the link between trees and wood-based products.

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Two P6 pupils, Austyn Craig and Katie Goulding, collected the award on behalf of Underbank Primary with headteacher Margo Millar and principal teacher Marguerite Elkin.

The awards were presented at the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston by MSP Fergus Ewing, the Scottish Government’s Rural Economy and Connectivity Secretary.

The Underbank group attended the ceremony and reception at the Government pavilion there.

Besides a trophy of a carved squirrel, it won £500, a commemorative wooden plaque recording its achievement and a tree pack donated by Alba Trees.

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It also won a MagPost donated by Caledonia Play, a hardwood post incorporating a scientific-quality magnifying glass allowing feathers, leaves, bones and even small insects to be examined in close detail.

Scotland’s Finest Woods, the independent charity that runs the awards programme, said the quality of 2017’s winners was “exceptional”.

Mr Ewing said: “Forestry and timber is worth £1bn annually to Scotland’s economy and employs more than 25,000 people, but its wider social, educational and environmental value to communities and individuals is incalculable.

“The people who win these awards are passionate and united by a desire to sustain, maintain, expand and most importantly enjoy our forests and woodland.

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Angela Douglas, executive director of Scotland’s Finest Woods, said: “The exceptional quality and the variety of the entries in 2017 highlight the enormous value of forestry and woodland to Scotland’s economy, environment and communities.

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