Sustainability
Red Kite Sustainability Board
Our Trust Sustainability Board brings together colleagues from each of our schools to discuss our environmental impact and how we can improve this.
Some of the initiatives include;
- Solar panels at 13 of our 14 schools
- LED lighting installed in all our schools
- Recycling introduced in all schools
- Trust -wide initiatives to reduce energy usage
- Setting up Energy Sparks accounts for all schools
- Pupil led eco committees
- Sharing of ideas via our Youth Board
- Rewilding Vision.
School Eco Committees
Our schools have eco-committees who continually look at ways we can be more sustainable and kinder to the environment. This is an issue close to the heart of our Youth Board who have been sharing ideas from across our Trust. A recent Youth Board meeting was held at Meadowfield Primary School, where the children were shown all the amazing initiatives the Green Team have been working on, including the fantastic seating they have made from eco-bricks, made out of bottles filled with plastic rubbish.
Following this visit, Coppice Valley Primary School pupils were inspired to do the same have been collecting rubbish at break times, making eco-bricks and building chairs. Oatlands Junior School have built a greenhouse using old bottles, enabling them to grow more plants. It is great to see this collaboration taking place and hope to see more ideas shared and implemented in the coming year.
Re-wilding Vision
Our vision is for our school grounds to have healthy soils and habitats supporting biodiversity and capturing carbon. We actively encourage our schools to support young people to make decisions and implement change, giving them a sense of agency and fostering an understanding of the natural world and our place within it. Survey and monitoring is starting to take place, using the National Education Nature Park protocols.
This provides the opportunity for students to learn and practice important STEM skills in a real-world context, whilst contributing to one of England’s largest citizen science projects. Allowing nature to thrive within our school grounds will provide an environment conducive to learning and be beneficial to physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Our school communities will be empowered by seeing that they can make a positive difference to climate resilience and nature recovery, by carrying out simple actions in their local areas.
Schools Go Wild
As part of our Rewilding Project, children from the eco-committee at Rossett Acre Primary School in Harrogate got out mapping the habitats in their school grounds this month, using fabulous, free mapping methodology from the National Education Nature Park.
Yorkshire Rewilding Network committee member, Jenny Marks, has been working with schools across our Trust on this project.
Walk to School
Non-political climate action group Zero Carbon Harrogate, launched an environmentally-friendly ‘Walk to School’ initiative in June 2021 to encourage schools across the district to take the car less often. Our schools regularly take part and this year, Rossett Acre Primary School received the Gold award for taking part in all six ‘Walk to School’ events.
Plastic Transition
The Green Team at Meadowfield Primary School, led by Learning Assistant, Mrs Ullyart, have been working to reduce the amount of single-use plastic from school going into landfill. Together they have created well over 100 eco-bricks. Eco-bricks are PET bottles packed solid with clean and dry used plastic, creating reusable building blocks.
