Eco Council

It is a great honour to be only one of a very few schools to have been retained the Eco-Schools 'Green Flag' for 7 years. For the last two years, we have been awarded the 'Green Flag with Distinction' award, reflecting the sustained improvement and development in this area, led by the pupils.  We are hugely proud of this achievement and commitment to ensuring we look after our world properly. 

At The New Forest School we believe it is vital to take responsibility for our planet. Each class has two Eco Councillors who have been elected by their class.  At KS2 there is also a weekly Eco Club which is attended by the KS2 Eco Councillors and other interested children.  The Eco Club members make up the Eco Council who, led by Mrs Barnes, work throughout the year to raise awareness of their initiatives throughout the school.  At our KS1 site, Miss Hibbs leads an Eco and Gardening club who ensure that the initiatives are worked on consistently across both sites.  The members of the Eco Committee are:

                          

We follow the Eco-Schools model to ensure that standards are high and that we are covering all areas.  Below can be found the School Environmental Review, carried out by the Eco Committee in September, and their resulting Action Plan for the year.  This year's focus will be Energy, Global Citizenship and School Grounds; however we will continue to work in all areas of the award.

Environmental Review 2024 / 2025

 Action Plan 2024 / 2025

 

 

Activities that we have taken part into achieve our 'Green Flag' Status

Visit from John Glen MP

The Eco Council wrote to John Glen MP to ask what the government is doing to combat climate change.  He kindly agreed to take part in a 30 minute question and answer session at both the KS1 and KS2 sites.  The questions and answers were very wide-ranging; some of the things we found out were what different considerations need to be put in place when considering supplying schools, surgeries and police stations with solar panels to reduce their energy bills; whether or not is may be possible to change Donald Trump's mind on climate change and what government can do to help other countries affected by climate change.  The pupils suggested that local government could help to ensure that land was made available for community gardens or allotments in order to reduce food miles; John Glen is going to take this suggestion back to the planning permission committees as something to consider when considering new housing developments.  

Pledge Event

This is planned for 22nd July.  Pupils will soon be bringing home a sponsor form with a difference! They will be collecting pledges for one thing that the sponsor will change to help the environment if they take part in the Pledge Event.  Pledges could include not mowing one area of the garden to encourage bees or turning off the electrical equipment when they leave the room.  More details on the event will follow shortly.

Walk to School Initiative

Following on from the successful Walk2School week last year, the School Council and Eco-Committee have worked together to make active journeys to school a permanent feature.  Each day, every child logs how they travel to school using the Living Streets Travel Tracker.  Active journeys logged count towards a reward badge which is awarded each month.  Pupils can earn a badge if they make one active journey each week.  Each week during Celebration Assembly, the class with the highest percentage of active journeys on each site is awarded a class certificate.  

Crisp Packet Collection

This year, our school has continued to collect crisp packets and soft plastic which can be recycled at larger stores.  Several members of the community now send their crisp packets into school to be recycled.  The soft plastic has been taken to Waitrose in Romsey to be recycled.  Weekly updates are given in assembly on a Friday.

Energy Waste traffic lights

The Eco Committee have put traffic signals around the school to inform staff and pupils which devices can be left plugged in (green) and which should be turned off when not being used (red).  As a result, we have reduced our electricity usage by nearly 6,000 kwh over the last year.  

Pupil Leadership

Members of the Eco-Committee in each class have presented the findings of the Environmental Review to the rest of the school.  Each week they present the results of the crisp packet recycling and the energy saving inspection during Celebration Assembly.  They have promoted the aim of having fruit only snacks during breaktime to reduce single-use packaging.  They have also written to our local MP to arrange for him to visit the school for a question and answer session.

KS2 site school grounds 

Volunteers from the school community have once again given up their valuable time to improve the school grounds, creating a quiet, shaded area and planting bee-friendly plants on the flowerbeds and containers.  The new mud kitchen, made by Greenhill Farm Campsite, has been incorporated into the KS2 playground and is in daily use.

Food Waste 

The Hot Composters donated by the parish council last year have continued to be used.  Food waste and shredded paper are composted on site and will be used within the school grounds by the gardening club.  Over the summer, the composter at KS2 will be moved to a new site to better fit in with the new school ground design.  In order to comply with the new food waste regulations brought in by the government, all food waste throughout both sites is collected separately.  The Eco Council continue to monitor this.

  

Litter-picking

The school have have continued to use the litter-pickers for each site.  A ten-minute litter-pick is carried out as part of each Forest Friday undertaken by each class.

Bikeability

Year 6 have undertaken Bikeability training to ensure they are safe to cycle on the roads.  They will be encouraged to cycle to school where it is safe and possible to do so,

Eco-Club

A weekly Eco-Club has been running on both school sites throughout the year to raise awareness of the importance of the environment.  Recycling crisp packets, watering indoor plants, gardening and planning new initiatives have been activities carried out each week during Eco-club.

Energy-Free Days

 During the Autumn and Spring term, each class across the school completed a day's work without using electrical devices such as laptops and the SmartBoard.  Lessons were adapted accordingly.  Many of the classes spent the day with the lights turned off!

Walk 2 School Week

This proved to be very successful, with almost every student taking the opportunity to walk or 'Park and Stride' to school for at least part of the week.  Plans are in place to develop this further next year.

'Twenty Is Plenty' Campaign

This is a campaign that was started two years ago.  We now have the professionally produced signs in school.  We are currently working through the red tape to find out where we are able to site the signs before we consult the local community to check that there are no objections.