B the Change - sustainability week at Dame B's
Published on 19/10/18
B The Change saw a dramatic collapse of our timetable, which was then rebuilt to reflect a medley of lessons, taking on a sustainable focus.
We are all made very aware of the plight of the Earth. With documentaries on plastics and the devastating effect that global warming has on our planet, it’s not difficult for us adults to understand the pertinent issues that deserve our attention.
For our pupils however these messages are difficult to consume and understand. With constant negative messaging from media it is a very daunting world that they are growing up in. The answer is clearly not to put a protective veil over their eyes; bringing them up in a supposedly perfect world, but to empower them with knowledge and to help ignite the desire to bring about change. After all the weight of responsibility will lay on their shoulders. As our tagline read...There is no plan B!
Our integrated learning week provided the opportunity for our staff to get creative and think about getting the important messages to ‘sink in’. Plastic bottles and apples were requested from our parent body and they arrived in abundance, we were fully stocked for the week ahead!
Some highlights from the week included:
Making mini composters, the big juice off (apple juice making), the dancing car (electric Teslar), papermaking, looking after our pollinators, making recycled games, a house STEM challenge day, house food waste challenge and our eco cup design competition which is supported by our P.T.A).
The apple juice sale was a roaring success, only hampered by the lack of time and the need to go into full time production to keep up with demand. The intention was to fund a worm composter for the school garden. This will allow us to take some of the kitchen waste, reduce our carbon footprint, and produce compost and liquid fertiliser that can go straight onto the school garden. With £90 pounds raised we are looking forward to the composter arriving along with a few thousand tiger worms!
George and Lyra (yr 3 and 4 respectively) won the cup design. The decision was made to award our joint winners as combining their designs created a very effective design which will hopefully be sitting in many a hand very soon! The cups are with the makers at the moment and will hopefully be on sale shortly.
The children were incredibly engaged during the week and we all hope that the messaging and experiences that they received stays with them for many years to come!