Eco-Schools Committee
At Aston Lodge Primary we recognise how wonderful our planet ‘Earth’ is and want to ensure that it stays that way for us and future generations. We are aware of the current climate crisis and the work that governments across the world are having to do to ensure our planet is healthy. We recognise that it is everyone’s responsibility to look after the planet that we live on and we want to do our bit to help. We are proud to be working towards the Eco-Schools green flag status this year. As part of this work we have created an Eco-Committee, conducted an environmental review in school, drawn up an action plan and are now ready to take action.
Meet our committee
My name is Florence and I am in Year 5. I am super excited to be selected for the Eco Committee. As part of my role, I want to help the local wildlife and encourage people to use less plastic. This year I am excited to hopefully host a second hand fashion show and to plant more flowers around our school grounds. I also want to encourage people to drive less where possible and take other modes of transport.
My name is Nell and I am in Year 5. I am looking forward to being part of the Eco Committee this year. I wanted to take part as I enjoy helping animals and I really love nature. This year I hope that we can plant more around our school grounds to encourage wildlife into the area. I am excited about our flower project.
My name is Charley and I am in Year 4. I am excited to be on the Eco Committee. I want to help tidy up litter in our local area and save our planet from fossil fuels. I am really excited about the possibility of hosting a second hand fashion show as it will be really fun and environmentally healthy. I am passionate about helping our school and want to encourage people to use the correct bins when recycling.
My name is Annabelle and I am in Year 4. I am happy to be on the Eco Committee because I love our planet and I want to keep the planet nice and clean. I am excited to see that we have introduced recycling bins into the classrooms which was a previous goal of the Eco Committee. This year, I want to organise a second-hand fashion show and be able to do a clothes swap after this within school.
My name is Emmie and I am in Year 3. I am happy to be on the Eco committee because I like animals and keeping school tidy. I also like helping people and I do not like it when people litter. I would like to do more recycling as well as planting more flowers for wildlife in school.
My name is Anna-Faith and I am super excited to be on the Eco Committee. I am excited to be on the committee because I want to make the world a better place by taking care of it. I am kind, confident, brave, strong and thoughtful. I think we need to make sure that everyone puts rubbish in the bins, turns the lights off when we don’t need them and plant more trees.
My name is Darcie and I am in Year 3. I am happy to be chosen to be on the Eco committee. I want to be able to make a difference in school and help us to become more Eco Friendly. I hope that we can plant more flowers and trees within the school grounds and we can create a good environment for mini beasts to live.
My name is Joshua. I am excited to be on the Eco Committee. I want to be part of the Eco Committee because I want to help make our school better and more Eco Friendly. I think that we should do some more learning in class about how we can be more Eco friendly.
Our School Eco-Review
Our first job on the eco-committee was to conduct a review to see what our school was already doing well and what areas we could improve on. This was a big task so we got the whole school involved. Each class looked at a different area of the review. We were surprised at how low our scores were in some areas. You can see our results for our first review here:
Choosing our Areas to Work On
After conducting the review we chose three areas to work on. We analysed the findings of the review and democratically voted on the areas we wanted to impact. The areas we have chosen are:
- Energy
- Waste
- Marine
Our Action Plan
The Eco-committee have been working hard to develop an action plan. This helped us to think about and collect our ideas together. The action plan will support us to make a difference in the areas we have chosen. You can find our action plan here. Now we are ready to take action!
Our First Assembly
The Eco-Committee presented our work so far to the rest of the school and shared the areas that we are working on. We have chosen 2 children from each class to be energy monitors in school. These children have an important job – they need to ensure that the lights are turned off in their classroom and in the shared areas outside their classrooms and to remind the teachers to turn off the interactive boards when they are not using them. This will ensure that we do not waste electricity. This is important for the planet and also will help to keep school costs down. You can find the PowerPoint we presented in assembly here.
Eco-Committee – News
Eco-committee – Top Tips
- If you live close to school, try to walk, cycle or scoot to school rather than use your car. Doing this will help to keep you fit as well as save you money and help the environment. Tip provided by Layla (Y5)
- Plastic does not decompose and is very harmful to the environment and the wildlife that lives in it. Plastic is a particular problem for our seas and oceans. On our litter pick we picked up several plastic bottles that had blown or been thrown into the hedges. Top tip: Use a reusable bottle and refill it with water or your favourite drink. Try not to use single use plastic bottles. Tip provided by Nell (Y3)
The Eco-committee is proud to announce that Wayne Monro-Smith from Rotherham council is coming into school on Wednesday 2nd March to help us to do a litter pick of the school grounds. We hope to be working with him regularly this year.
School Litter Pick
The Eco-Committee have been liaising with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. Mr Wayne Munro-Smith from the ‘Love Where you Live’ department of the council came into school to meet the Eco-Committee and discuss their work. He was very impressed with what he saw and told the Eco-Committee that they are an inspiration to others and that when others see what they are doing to help the planet it will make others think about what they can do too.
Mr Munro-Smith then helped the Foundation Stage children in Little Oaks and the Y3/4 children in Hazel class to complete a litter pick around school. At first glance the school grounds didn’t look like there was much litter but the children soon searched it out and managed to pick up a staggering 4 bin bags full of rubbish!!!! Most of this had been blown into the hedges around school. Great work everyone – our school grounds now look amazing and that is four bags of litter that are no longer posing a threat to the environment and the wildlife.
