Wealden Times | WT207 | May 2019 | Extensions & Outdoor Living supplement inside

Education
Reduce Reuse Recycle
How are Wealden schools developing their pupils’ environmental awareness?
straws and the school produced DVD cases are now cardboard.
Nash House (Early Years) are single use plastic free, reverting to
glass milk bottles at snack time and banning plastic wrapped food.
End of life computer equipment is collected by an Environment
Agency registered company for recycling and safe disposal.
Printing and photocopier usages are regularly monitored, with
high volume producers given advice on ways to reduce. We have
also changed the default output to double-sided to save paper.
Dulwich Prep Cranbrook
How do you teach pupils to be more aware of the impact they
have on the environment? The majority of the eco initiatives
introduced at Dulwich have been very much child led, we have
found that the children genuinely care and want to make a
difference. Our Eco Club was set up by the children in Upper
School. We are currently working towards the Eco Schools
Green Flag Award and hoping to become a single use plastic free
school. We created an art installation consisting of hundreds of
plastic milk bottles turned into upcycled birds on sticks displayed
on the fields. When we realised how many plastic bottles were
used at school we started a campaign to ban plastic bottles.
Can classes put any of their ideas into practice within
the school? In the grounds we are fortunate to have an area
set aside as a nature reserve and there is also an area of the
grassland which is left unmown over the spring and summer.
We have a very active Gardening Club which grows vegetables
and fruit as well as flowers. In Little Stream (Years 1-4) Eco
Club activities range from picking blackberries and making
jam to creating bird boxes. Year 3 have been looking at drones
monitoring wildlife, whilst Year 8 considered the use of future
technologies and the environment. Year 5 have been studying
the environmental poems of Roger McGough and Brian Moses
before writing their own responses. We now use washable towels
to dry hands in the art room – they have been made from lost
property towels which were not claimed at the end of term.
What environmentally friendly practices does the school
use on a daily basis? The Estates team only use energy efficient
lamps throughout the school and our newest building has a
biomass boiler. The school kitchen uses local food suppliers and
seasonal produce as much as possible. The school runs recycling
schemes for batteries, pens, biscuit/cake wrappers, plastics, paper/
cardboard and glass. Over the last six months we have been
working on reducing single use plastics in school, so no plastic
Do pupils learn how different communities around the
world care for their environment? During our Art lessons in
Year 1 we upcycled African masks – using rubbish like many
poor children in Africa have to use to make toys. Year 6 have
been looking at the impact of tourism on the French Alps and
Pyrenees in their French lessons. Year 7 created jellyfish from
porcelain and using plastic supermarket bags for the tentacles
(we stitched into them) as a response to plastics in our oceans.
Jellyfish are one of the only creatures multiplying due to
changes in our sea, such as temperature and pollutants. Year
8 sketched drawings of wasps, looking at the plight of bees
and discussing why wasps are important to our eco system.
dulwichprepcranbrook.org
Beechwood Sacred Heart School, Tunbridge Wells
How do you teach pupils to be more aware of the impact
they have on the environment? Lesson are considered and
adapted to the individual subjects. For example, we teach
them about food miles and sustainability in Food Technology.
These lessons are examined in more focus in our Geography
and Science classes where we look at the importance of our
behaviour on the environment and the future of our planet. We
have taken part in energy saving and waste impact surveys.
Can classes put any of their ideas into practice within the
school? Yes, this year the children have
taken part in a number of initiatives
including Eco Week, Waste Week and
Switch Off Fortnight. All of these have
presented opportunities for the children
to discuss and debate their personal
impact on the environment and how
we might reshape our future.
In the Summer term we have plans
for an Eco Garden. The students will
choose exactly what they would like
to plant and develop for sustainability
and environmental consideration.
137 wealdentimes.co.uk