Environment and sustainability

Intent: At Richard Clarke First School, our intent is to instill a deep understanding and appreciation for the environment and sustainability among our students. We aim to educate them about the interconnectedness of all living beings and the importance of preserving our natural resources for future generations. By embedding environmental awareness into our curriculum and fostering a culture of sustainability throughout the school community, we seek to empower our students to become responsible stewards of the planet.

Implementation: To achieve our intent, we integrate environmental education and sustainability practices into various aspects of school life. We incorporate topics related to the environment and sustainability across subjects, ensuring that students explore these themes from multiple perspectives. Through hands-on activities, projects, and field trips, students engage with real-world environmental issues and learn practical skills for promoting sustainability. Additionally, we actively promote eco-friendly behaviors within the school, such as recycling programs, energy conservation efforts, and sustainable gardening initiatives.

Impact: Our commitment to environmental education and sustainability has a profound impact on our students, school, and wider community. Students develop a strong sense of environmental responsibility and are empowered to take action to protect the planet. As a result, they become advocates for sustainability both within the school and beyond, inspiring positive change in their families and communities. Furthermore, our school becomes a model of environmental stewardship, demonstrating how education and collective effort can make a meaningful difference in creating a more sustainable future for all.

 

Sustainability and the environment is one of the 4 main aspects that drives our curriculum and children are being taught about the environment and how to care for it throughout the school. We are working towards the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development (un.org), read on to find out more.

Here are some fantastic examples of sustainability and eco schools through the curriculum

     

 

The Richard Clarke First School are the proud owners of the prestigious Eco Schools green flag award.

The school, led by the eco team work on projects outside the classroom, in the past these have covered different aspects of the Eco Schools ten topics. https://www.eco-schools.org.uk/primary-pathway/ten-topics/ to find out more about the different topics.

Below are some examples of the projects we have been undertaking.

Energy

The children have taken part in a screen off challenge at home in a effort to save energy use. The children thought of lots of activities they could do instead like jigsaw puzzles, playing in the garden or their home learning!

Litter

Introducing The Richard Clarke Litter Picking Club! Each weekend, a different child from each class has been taking home the class litter picker and letting us know how much litter they have managed to collect and remove from our beautiful surroundings.

Since starting the project, we have cleared 156kg of litter from our local area which is phenomenal!  Thank-you to all those who have taken part and helped the environment.

Take a look at our litter picking wall of fame.

                 

We also enjoy taking part in the Great British Spring clean each year. The older children in the school head off around Abbots Bromley to clear up the local area and the younger children concentrate on the school grounds.

Last year, families donated litter pickers to the school so now we have enough for a class to use and the children often come and ask to borrow the litter pickers at lunchtime because they have spotted some litter.

Waste

In the hall, we have a Terracycle recycling collection. We collect crisp packets and send them off to Terracycle who recycle them.

Please keep bringing in your empty crisp packets to recycle.  Since we started, we have recycled a staggering 58.54 kg of crisp packets!

Once collected, the aggregated nuts, popcorn, crisps and pretzels packets are sorted, shredded and washed. The material is then densified into hard-granulated plastic granules. The granules are then extruded so they can be incorporated into the production of different plastic products such as fence posts and benches. Our rainbow benches and the black planters in the rainbow garden are made from recycled plastic.

Here is what you can recycle at school with Terracycle:

Waste

In assembly, we learnt about marine wildlife and we discussed what impact we could have in the Midlands on the marine wildlife. One thing we talked about was ensuring all litter goes in the bin and not washed down the drains. We took part in the message in a bottle top competition and made a whole school mural using milk bottle tops that the children brought in from home.

We think we did a brilliant job!

Other work:

Global Citizenship

Every year at harvest time, our school community donates food for the Rugeley food bank.

We participate in fundraising events throughout the year and raise money for charities like comic relief, the poppy appeal and children in need. In school, we learn about the different charities and the support they give to people around the world.

 

Healthy Living

During healthy eating week, we took on the BNF’s challenges. At home, we were challenged to eat a rainbow! These are some of the foods that we tried:

Red: Tomato, pepper, strawberries, apples, cherries

Orange: Pepper, satsumas, carrots, peaches, butternut squash,

Yellow: Bananas, sweetcorn, lemon,

Green: Broccoli. spinach, peas, grapes, cucumber, brussel sprouts, kale

Blue: Blueberries,

Purple: Aubergine, blackberries, prunes,

Pink: Watermelon, raspberries

White: Potato, onion, cauliflower, parsnips

 

We also took part in physical activity together with our families. Across the school, we went on bike rides and hikes; we played golf, tennis, football and hockey and flew kites, we have been busy!

 

These are some comments from the children about what we learnt in school.

“Drink milk as calcium is great for your bones”

“Do exercise every day”

“Drink lots of water”

“Be kind to yourself”

 

The gardening club have been working hard to grow food to eat, we are currently in a competition between the houses as to who can produce the most potatoes in our potato bags!