St. Michael In The Hamlet Community Primary School
St. Michael In The Hamlet Community Primary School
Eco Team
Eco Team
The job of our Eco Team is to try to make our school as sustainable as possible. That means we try to look after the world around us and make sure that we don’t damage it.
The children on our team are chosen by each class. Each class votes to choose 2 children in their class who will represent them on the Eco Team. They meet to work on what else we can do to make our school more sustainable.
Our Eco Team chooses 2 or 3 areas they want to focus on throughout the year. They chose between:
Biodiversity – We share our school with many different species of plants and animals. How do we promote Biodiversity at our school?
Energy – Our School has two main uses for energy: heating and electricity. Can we help lower our school’s impact on climate change?
“Global Citizenship” – Can we take an active role in our community, and work with others to make our planet more equal, fair and sustainable?
Litter – Do we respect our learning environment? Is our school litter-free?
Marine – How does what we do in our schools, homes and streets affect our seas? How we can make positive differences for our seas?
Healthy living – We are part of the environment. How does our school promote choices that are good for us and good for the environment?
School grounds – Our school’s grounds are a fantastic environment in which to let the imagination run wild. How will we make the most of our outside space?
Transport – We can do a lot to improve the way staff and pupils travel. Can we encourage pupils to try new modes of transport?
Waste – This comes in many different forms – food, paper, plastic, electrical, metal – it can all be reduced, reused or recycled. How can we manage waste better?
Water – What can we do to use this precious resource more responsibly?
So what’s going on in SMITH?
Welcome to our Eco Team noticeboard. Find out below what the Eco Team at SMITH have been getting up to…
Elections – Here is a picture of this year’s newly elected team! Maybe next year, it could be you?
If you weren’t lucky enough to be elected, have a look at our Sustainability Challenge to see how you can make a difference to our school’s environment and our world!
Latest updates!
The Eco Team have been out on another Trash Mob looking to see which companies are responsible for making the branded packaging found littering our school grounds.
Can you see any familiar names?
The team have emailed 3 of the companies on our SMITH Hall of Shame, to find out what they are doing to help tackle the problem of the plastic they make to package their products. Here are our emails and the replies we’ve had so far…
Our Email to Tesco
Tesco’s Reply
Email to Cadburys
Reply from Mondelez International, owner of Cadburys
The team are still waiting for a reply to their email to Nestle…
Earlier in the Year…
The Eco Team completed an Eco Schools Environmental Review.
They thoroughly investigated how our school is doing in all the different areas listed above, talking to many members of the staff, including the site manager and kitchen staff.
The Eco Team are currently focusing on the following topics – Litter, Waste and Marine.
The team reached out to one of our parents, Tom Crone from the Green Party, to access litter pick resources. Here are some pictures of what they got up to around the school grounds!
Getting to grips with the litter picks!
Clearing the side gardens and the EYFS outdoor area.
Clearing the Wild Garden!
What a team! Look how much we collected!
After finding lots of single-use plastic on our litter pick,the Eco Team decided to get involved in the Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) campaign ‘Plastic Free Schools’. The team learned about how SAS are campaigning to reduce single-use plastic and pollution because of its impact on marine environments and the wild-life that lives there. They made posters to tell the rest of the school about the issue.
The Eco Team contacted our new MP (Paula Barker) about their concerns about plastic pollution. They were delighted when she wrote back, saying she had submitted questions to the Minister of the Environment and Rural Affairs on our behalf, and, in even more exciting news, recently came into school to talk to the team!
The Eco Team meeting Paula Barker, MP!
The Eco Team, after reading Paula Barker’s letter!
We received answers to the questions from Mary Creagh MP, who is a junior Minister in DEFRA. Links to the parliamentary questions and answers can be found below:
Hedgehogs! – Keep a look out for the 2 hedgehogs (Alan and Birch) who were re-wilded in Tramway Park, just next to our Wild Garden. This is great news for the biodiversity of our local area! Click on the link below to find out more…
If you come across a hedgehog in the day, who isn’t looking very well, please phone Jacksons Animal Rescue (0151 625 5464) who will be able to help.
Check out their website, using the link below, for more information and very cute pictures!
Earth Hour – This takes place every year in March. In school, classes join in in different ways and we encourage families to take part at home too. Check out the link below to find out more…
Have a look at some of these WWF ideas you could try at home…
During Earth Hour…
Have a look at just some of the other projects our school has been involved in…
Here at SMITH, we will ensure that when products and services are purchased, we will consider environmental aspects, potential impacts and costs, associated with their life cycle. Our practice of procuring products and services will endeavour to ensure that they are less harmful to the environment (land, air and water) and that they are made with less harmful materials when produced, used or consumed. This will include, where possible; buying locally, buying recycled and recyclable, using less chemicals and reducing the schools carbon footprint associated with products and services.
Join the Pod Now run by Wastebuster, a not-for-profit community interest company. Look in the Student Zone to find lots of useful information, activities, movies and games to help you learn all about energy, biodiversity, climate science and much more.
