Environment

Giving our pupils a broad and relevant set of skills, knowledge and work habits will help them meet the future demands of a complex society. Possibly the greatest demand facing our society is climate change and the effect this has on our environment. It is certainly a topic that the children are fully engaged in without our prompting.

We integrate themes into the curriculum relating to understanding the climate and ecological crisis, allowing our pupils to be informed and empowered to address the urgency of the crisis.

As a School we have developed a range of responses including the installation of a green wall, the launch of an eco-brick project, the monitoring of food waste and a collaboration with Westminster Council and Imperial College to understand the issue of air quality within cities and how we might make a difference through, for example, our lifestyles, transportation, the use of planting and greenery etc. We are proud that 66% of our pupils do not use a car for their journey to school. We are also monitoring our energy use. It is not unusual to see our pupils down in the boiler room checking meter readings. We have also reduced water wastage by the introduction of sensor taps.

We are part of the Eco Schools’ Programme and have through a single year, achieved our Green Flag accreditation. This is an example of how we try and give the children an opportunity to take a lead and do real things that actively change the School. Eco School is a charity passionate about engaging young people in environmental education and action by empowering and motivating them to drive change and improve environmental awareness in their school, local community and beyond. Our Eco Prefects recently led an environmental audit of the School. One of the areas that was highlighted for improvement was biodiversity within the School buildings to help improve air quality within classrooms whilst addressing our collective mental wellbeing through a softening of the environment we learn within. The same notion sits being the introduction of the green wall in the Playground and the increasing focus on horticulture, particularly within, the Early Years setting.