Eco Schools

Who are we?

This year our Eco Council is made up of 2 pupils from each KS2 year group. Each class has carefully elected their Eco warriors on the basis of the pupil’s vision and environmental values. The Eco council meet at least twice a term to discuss our school’s actions and evaluate our progress. The Eco warriors are responsible for feeding back news, actions and following up activities to their year groups, they also responsible for informing KS1 classes about their meetings. Reception class have an after-school Eco club where each week they take part in activities linked to our Eco action plan. Mrs Smart is our teacher representative and Mrs Waite is our parent representative and also the chair for the local parish Eco committee.

What we do

The Eco Council has been formed to help raise awareness of environmental issues and to explore ways in which our school can become a more environmentally friendly place. Our aim is to educate ourselves on environmental issues, both locally and globally. We are passionate about finding out how we can help our school become more eco-friendly as well as help tackle issues in the wider world.

Awards

So far, we have already achieved our Bronze and Silver Awards. We are now working towards attaining the Prestigious Green Flag Award. Despite another challenging year, the Eco committee have demonstrated such fantastic dedication and team work within their roles of Eco warriors.

Our topics

At the beginning of the year the Eco committee completed an environmental review of our school to determine which topics would be most appropriate for our action plan. As we are working towards our first Green Flag Award, we selected 3 focus topics for our action plan. Our topics are Biodiversity, litter/waste and Global citizenship. We have been monitoring our topics and sharing our actions through our Eco notice board, conversations with peers as well as hosting a whole school Eco week. There are also a number of actions the children have been busy implementing which link to the other topic areas.

Here is some of what we have achieved so far:

• Plastic straws and small milk bottles have been replaced with large milk bottles and reusable cups.
• Food bins have been purchased for food waste in classrooms.

• Recycling bins are in all classrooms and communal areas.
• We have litter/recycling posters up and around school to ensure waste is put in the correct bins.
• School newsletters and letters to parents are now sent out electronically.
• We are part of the GYOP scheme and have begun to develop the planters of the KS1 playground.
• We have planted flowers, herbs and vegetables to attract more wildlife.
• We are involved in developing the Christ Church memorial garden.
• In the Autumn term we will be receiving saplings from the Wildlife trust.
• Reception children are planning a fundraising event to raise money for the world Parrot trust in the Autumn term.
• We are enrolled in the ‘Big Spring Clean’.
• Energy saving monitors have been appointed to ensure lights are turned off.
• The Eco council have a number of actions they are currently writing to Mrs Pope about. In particular, ways to make the new outdoor area more Eco friendly and to attract wildlife.
• Mrs Pope has chosen for our new school building to be made from Eco bricks.

As well as much more!

The Eco committees Super 6!

It’s the little changes that can make a difference. Here are the Eco councils top 6 tips you could do at home:

1. When shopping use reusable bags instead of plastic ones.
2. Buy loose produce instead of prepacked as single use plastic cannot be recycled.
3. Buy local in season produce to help reduce carbon emissions.
4. Buy bamboo tooth brushes instead of plastic ones, which take over 1000 years to decompose.
5. Cycle more, drive less.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The little things can make the world of difference!