Eco School
Please follow the links below to find out what we’ve done, what we are doing and what we hope to do next!
2024-25
2022-23
- Eco Warrior Meeting 08/03/23
- Eco Warrior Meeting 07/02/23
- Eco Warrior Meeting 06/12/22
- Eco Warrior Meeting 02/11/22
Environment Club
There has been an Environment Club at Edmondsley since 1999.What began as an enthusiastic group of children from across the school spending their lunchtimes following their own varied interests… bird watching, hedgehog habitats, finding out how volcanoes work, recycling cans, making clothes from reusing and recycling materials, has evolved into an after school club based in class 3, although older children sometimes come to help out. Activities largely revolve around the school grounds, attending to the compost bays, planting seasonal tubs and hanging baskets, attending to the vegetable beds in our meadow allotment, litter picking and tidying/dipping in the pond.
Each summer in year 2, Mrs Boundy’s Nature Detectives investigate our grounds while Garden Buddies litter pick and sweep up enthusiastically during playtime, taking ownership of their space, broadening their experiences and becoming increasingly environmentally aware.
The Allotment
Our allotment began with four metre square raised beds and a delivery of topsoil. Seeds and seedlings were donated by our families and the vegetable garden was born. There are now nine raised beds, with each class assuming responsibility for one, while the others are tended largely by Environment Club. An impressive range of vegetables are grown from seed each year, with the produce adding eco interest in the dining hall at dinnertime, or being used in cookery sessions. Several sturdy apple trees, stalks of rhubarb, a raspberry bed and strawberry bed, and a shed for all of our tools and plant pots, complete the picture. Each year willing parents and grandparents have supported our children with some of the trickier tasks.
Through the allotment we are able to learn firsthand about growth cycles, minibeast habitats, the carbon footprints of foods, changing shopping habits, contributory causes of Global Warming and so on… stimulating enthusiastic discussion!
The Pond
The pond came about with the help of Ivan Dunn of the Wear Rivers Trust and a lot of parent digging power. It was a long time in the planning because we knew making the area safe was of huge importance. An Eco competition win provided the funding for a safety fence, workstations, an equipment shed and some seating. Alongside the pond, one dad and granddad built a minibeast hotel from donated bricks and wood, while assorted plants and ferns added further interest and habitats to the area.
“Build it and they will come!” we were told, and sure enough the creatures did come, all by themselves. Our pond is now home to a huge variety of minibeast including waterboatmen, diving beetles, frogs, newts and dragonflies. It is an excellent source of interest and a great learning tool, enjoyed by all classes.
School Grounds Development
The initiative to improve our school grounds began in 2006 with Mrs Baker’s ‘Bring a Rock to School Day’ which created a rockery and minibeast haven from a muddy bank outside of the south facing classrooms. Parents, staff and children then worked together to build the early years outdoor play area over a summer of weekends and evenings. The resulting outdoor area was the regional winner in the LOtC (Learning outside the classroom) national awards. This was followed by the creation of stimulating play spaces in our nursery grounds which complement the woodland spaces there.
In 2010 we secured a £10,000 lottery grant to broaden and develop the path along the south side of the school building, providing useful extra teaching and recreational space. Shade sails provide a cooler place to sit on hot days, while the stages have been used for all manner of singing and dancing enjoyment.
In 2015 we are hoping to secure further funding for developing the space outside of Class 4 into another useful, attractive, recreational and potential teaching space. A senses garden is being considered, with butterfly and bee-friendly planting. Preliminary drawings have been submitted by the children and the help of a sculptor has been enlisted.
Litter
We once had a litter problem, with sweet and crisp packaging causing a mess and a great deal of annoyance. Those days have long passed as we adopted a ‘fruity snacks only’ policy, encouraging our children to eat school fruit or bring their own from home. Now litter is occasionally a nuisance on windy days, but our garden buddies willingly help to keep this in check. At least one class each year takes part in a village litter pick and we are pleased to report that the volume of litter we collect has dramatically reduced over time. We have conducted surveys on different types of litter for ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ and have learned a great deal about biodegradability along the way.
Green Flag
Edmondsley Primary and Nursery School is the proud holder of four Eco Schools Green Flags. The Green Flag is must be applied for every two years and to achieve it criteria in a range of areas must be met.
View the website for the Eco Schools Green Flag Award.
Striving to achieve our aims in the various challenges has undoubtedly enabled us to raise our game. Indeed, following our second Green Flag assessment we were invited to take children to an Eco Schools Celebration of excellence at Kew Gardens to talk about our approach to promoting Global Awareness.
As part of our attempts to reduce energy consumption, we regularly update our whole school Energy Audit through the Carbon Reduction Programme for Schools. Emma Bishop from the OASES group (Outdoor and Sustainability Education Service) has supported our children to conduct energy audits, visiting each room around the school with a clipboard to record problem areas.
Our Eco Corner in our school hall keeps everyone in touch with what we are doing. Batteries, tokens and uniforms are recycled there, photographs and newspaper articles explain what we’ve done, are doing and hope to do. Assorted eco tips collected from children and their families are displayed alongside posters urging energy saving ideas.
“Well done Edmondsley Primary School! There is a clear, visible eco ethos running throughout the school, physically and in terms of classroom activities. Earlier initiatives are now well established and have had physical difference to the school and its environment, such as the pond, flower beds and tree planting. The children were articulate and enthusiastic, a good reflection on the school and its community. The commitment of Mrs Fletcher, the eco lead and the environment club after school activity, was very apparent.“
Assessor John – July 2014
A new flagpole has been purchased to display our green flag for all to see.
Trees are the Answer
Using ‘whips’ donated by The Woodland Trust and Forestry Commission, we have planted approximately 200 young trees in our school grounds in recent years. Our aim is to create more interesting, explorative play spaces and create more habitats to attract a greater range of wildlife.
We also use ‘Seeds For Schools’ materials, which were the result of a joint venture between the Forestry Commission and ‘The News Of The World’ to demonstrates the value of trees to our planet. Again two Edmondsley staff contributed to the original teaching materials of this initiative. The related work complements our ‘Growth’ topic and involves children planting and nurturing tree seeds… for eventual planting on in our school grounds. Our children learn that trees are valuable resources, that they provide Oxygen and absorb CO2, that they provide habitats and food, that they reduce flood risk by absorbing water, that their wood is useful for burning and building. They recognise the importance of planting and protecting them.
“Use the tree your father planted, plant the tree your child will need.“
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Alongside our day to day teaching, themed days and weeks provide opportunities to boost our ‘Re-use, Recycle, Reduce’ messages or allow time to focus on a new area in more depth. Switch off Fortnight, Energy Month, Climate Week, Green Britain Day, The Big Tidy Up, Earth Hour, Waste Week, The Boxtrolls Challenge, Low Carbon Day, Bee Day and Fair Trade Fortnight have all helped highlight the message that…
“On spaceship Earth there are no passengers, we are all crew!“
A Forest School
We aim to encourage in our children the ability to enjoy and learn from their environment and consequently the desire to care for it. Mrs Baker uses the extensive school grounds and the nearby Edmondsley Woods to introduce children to the wonders of the natural world. More recently Year 6 pupils have engaged in Forest Schools activities during the summer term and we hope to develop such activity in other classes too.
Wider World Awareness
Over the years our Eco activities have become increasingly broader, now involving many of our staff on a daily basis, encompassing School Grounds Development, reuse, reduce, recycle campaigns, a school allotment, Forest Schools and Climate Change education.
Through our topics, Climate Change teaching and ‘hot geography’ news, we aim to develop in our children increasing global awareness, so that they not only learn to care for their local environment, but also their World.
In order to give an extra focus to our work, at the same time raising awareness of our activities beyond the school, we have entered, become finalists and won a number of ‘Sustainable School/Eco Aware’ competitions over the years. We have twice won Sustainable School Award at the Evening Chronicle/ Environment Agency Environment Awards and Journal/Northumbria Water School Awards, Healthy School Awards, Inspirational Teacher Award (Mrs Baker), Altogether Greener Climate Change Award, Durham County Council’s Environment Award and have twice achieved regional ‘School of the Year’ Awards for our attempts to develop our pupils’ ability to care for themselves and their environment.
Most recently at the 2015 Northern Echo School Awards we were delighted to be finalists in the ‘Go Green’ and Healthy School categories, winning the ‘Care and Conservation Award’ outright.
We see our school as a beacon of good practise in the community. Many of our children become enthusiastic eco warriors, spreading their knowledge and exercising their eco conscience far beyond the perimeters of the school grounds. We hope the ‘Edmondsley experience’ will prepare our children to become informed, pro-active, global citizens of the future.
Northern Echo Environment Awards 2015
This week sixteen children represented our school at the 2015 ‘Northern Echo School of the Year Awards’ at The Xcel Centre in Newton Aycliffe.
We were chosen as finalists in two categories… The Healthy Schools Award, which celebrated our efforts to involve as many children as possible in a variety of sports, as well as encouraging healthy eating habits and learning how to look after ourselves and each other… and The Go Green Award which outlined our ongoing efforts to reuse, reduce and recycle, establishing sound everyday habits, building our pupils’ global awareness and understanding of the factors contributing to Climate Change, as well as having achieved four Eco Schools Green Flags.
It was ‘The Care and Conservation Award’ however, that caused whoops of delight as we were judged to be the very best! Our ongoing school grounds development, tree-planting initiatives, allotment, path and pond projects impressed the judges and saw our children rushing to the stage to receive the trophy and certificate.
Very well done to all concerned!
Eco Schools Boxtrolls Challenge
In January we invited everyone to take part in The Eco Schools Boxtrolls Challenge. The aim was to highlight the need to reduce waste by recycling and reusing.
On the morning of ‘Boxtrolls Day’, 75 models arrived in the school hall. It was wonderful to see so many innovative team and individual efforts!
Photographs of all of the models were sent away to be part of a national draw. Meanwhile in school all participants received certificates and stickers… with eco pencils for the extra special entries from each class. Discussions about the need to reuse/recycle reinforced the message and posters were made and displayed.
Over the course of the week the Boxtrolls moved around the hall and by Friday most had returned to their homes. It was such a well supported, useful team effort. Well done all concerned!
