Topic of the month: food and drink.
Join the talk2learn online discussion about food and drink in sustainable schools.
T o be an environmentally aware school–think globally act locall y.
The school aspires to be a Full-Service Extended School, providing leisure and learning with facilities for access to outside agencies.
The school has strong leadership and direction from the head, particularly supported by the school business manager/bursar. Their vision and concept of sustainability is broad and includes aspects that have traditionally been included to promote environmental protection and understanding. The head considers that education for sustainability is 'a holistic approach to school improvement' and 'provides an appropriate route for addressing the Every Child Matters agenda'.
Pupils are given opportunities to care for the environment in practical ways, to understand the underlying rationale and to take these ideas back into their homes
Education for the environment and sustainability are an explicit part of the vision of the school, which includes such statements as 'care for the world and its people' and 'healthy menus with locally sourced food'. The school garden is well used, each year group is given a plot, mainly to grow vegetables that are then used in the school kitchens. The global dimension is firmly established as the head has developed a link with a sustainable community in South Africa that has its own eco-school.
Sustainability is firmly embedded within the formal curriculum where it is especially related to Citizenship Education and 'Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning' (SEAL) but also in geography, science, art and other curriculum subjects. However, to give particular emphasis to 'green issues' the school has an 'Environmental Week' in the summer term and an 'Energy Week' in the spring term'. They are working towards the Eco-Schools Green Flag award. They have also joined the EU Active Learning Project, which in their case is related to managing and monitoring energy in the school and embedding it in the curriculum.
Innovation is encouraged by the head, who maintains a high profile within the school. This encouragement is both through his example and a willingness to try out new ideas and to take some risks. Time has also been allocated to planning and looking for opportunities to include education for sustainability in the life of the school.
An important principle is that pupils are given increasing responsibility, particularly as they progress through the school. There is a well established school council which acts as a platform for a certain amount of decision making.
On the school site there is a range of older buildings where currently there is negotiation with the local authority for a rebuilding project. The opportunity has been taken by the headteacher to involve many people in the school, including the pupils, with plans and proposals to create a building that makes a smaller environmental impact and from which pupils can learn.
The head has a high profile within the school, expressing his ideas with and listening to staff, pupils and parents.
The motto of the school is 'Learning for Life' and this is exemplified through the practical ways in which the school provides an educational hub in the locality. There is an adult learning partnership with Newark and Sherwood College funded initially by the EU Social Fund. Funding has also been obtained from the Microsoft 'Anytime, Anywhere Learning' initiative, which has paid for a computer suite for adult and pupil learning. The head is keen to establish more realistic role models for learning in the community and invites adults to school assemblies where their certificates are presented.
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