Eco – Schools update

July 2024 update

Over the year, Asterdale have made great progress on the three Eco Schools topics that we focused on.  These were;

•         Litter
•         School Grounds
•         Transport

The Eco Council have done themselves proud, taking on many responsibilities with pride.

Our efforts at Asterdale have been rewarded by being awarded the Eco – Schools Green Flag Award, with merit!

 

This is an amazing achievement and something the whole school can be proud of!  Watch this space for next year!

May 2024

The Eco – Council have continued on their mission to encourage active travel to school with the Living Streets programme.  They are responsible for handing out the badges each month and do this with perfect precision – thank you!

The Eco Council have also worked with a local organisation ‘Trees for Spondon’ to plant more hedge saplings around the green fence at the front of school.  As this hedge becomes established it will create a great habitat for wildlife, as well as looking beautiful. 

The part we planted last year is coming into leaf right now!

As we get towards the last part of the school year, we will be working on an Eco Code -  Asterdale’s mission statement about our commitment to becoming a little greener and more environmentally friendly during the next academic year.

What is Eco Schools?

Educators and young people care deeply about environmental issues and have a strong desire to actively protect our planet. However, environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity-loss, or plastic pollution are huge global issues and the thought of tackling them can be intimidating, leaving many feeling overwhelmed and wondering ‘Where do I begin?’

The Eco-Schools programme empowers young people to make a difference in their school, local community and beyond.

Since 1994, millions of young people around the world have worked through the Eco-Schools steps, including Asterdale Primary School.

Eco Council

Asterdale’s Eco Council comprises of a group of young people who have expressed a wish to take responsibility for delivering the Eco-Schools programme at Asterdale.   We have class representatives across school.  There is an Eco rep on the School Council too. 

Members of the Eco Council can be recognised by their pin badges, which they wear with pride each day.

The Eco Council meet regularly with Mrs Sumner (Eco Schools Coordinator) to focus on specific tasks, following the Eco – Schools programme.   They provide a link between Pupils, Teachers, Senior Management, Governors and the whole school community.

Since forming in September 2023, the Eco Council have already worked on the following;

• Eco Schools display board
• Litter pick around the school grounds
• Eco Schools assembly, ensuring the whole school are aware of the Eco Schools programme and how they can help.
• Completing classroom surveys on how children usually travel to school, for a new Living Streets, 'Let’s Walk to School Challenge'
• Planning and recording meetings

Our mission is to help bring about behaviour change in young people and those connected to them so that good habits learnt in schools are followed through into homes and communities. 

Eco School focuses this year are;

• Litter
• School grounds
• Transport

 

Eco Schools - December 2023 update

The Eco – Council have met every other week, learning how to record minutes, plan ahead and feedback to individual classes and the whole school community.

They have worked hard on the Environmental Review of Asterdale and made steps to plan for the coming months.  It was great to spend time with our Site Manager to find out information about lights, boilers, energy consumption and doors that not many people know!

As a school Asterdale had almost 100 children achieve the November owl badge of the Living Streets Programme.  These children travelled actively to school at least 3 days per week.  We would love to see this number reach even more over the coming months.

The Eco Council have found out what litter is often on our playground and talked about how we can improve this for the future with members of the PTFA.

The children have shown a great commitment to their role in school and spent time in the forest and had hot chocolate and biscuit as a little, ‘Thank you’, for their hard work during the Autumn term.

We look forwards to working together again in the Spring Term.