Student Eco Reps from Rushcliffe School in West Bridgford, with support from the wider community of School students and staff, have been recognised by Eco Schools and awarded the top Green Flag Award. Here the school talks about the Eco Reps’ Achievements:
Over the last two years our Eco Reps have worked hard to achieve the Bronze and Silver Eco Award through a variety of whole school initiatives, such as Duracell’s Big Battery Hunt for safe battery collection and disposal, Walkers crisp packet collections, and organising our participation in the national ‘Switch Off Week’ and ‘Waste Week’ to reduce energy use and waste output.
During the last academic year, the Eco Reps maintained their focus on these initiatives, as well as going one step further to expand their impact into other areas of the school. For example, Eco Reps worked with the Healthy Eating Ambassadors to discuss the sustainability of canteen utensils, packaging, and ingredient sources such as farm-assured bacon. They advertised a milk bottle top collection to ensure the correct recycling of these bottle tops, as well as upcycling a proportion of them to creative festive cards that were handed out in local care homes by our sixth form YOPEY befrienders. Students in the wider school have also expanded their awareness of the environment through their lessons by carrying out microplastic experiments, researching food packaging in Food Technology, analysing plastic & air pollution data in Geography, and creating their own environmental campaigns for change during their Bright Day, focusing on ‘think globally, act locally’. During these campaigns they considered their own social responsibility and developed an understanding of how people stand up to create positive change globally and in local communities.
With the introduction of the new plastic bottle bins at the start of 2020, several Year 9 students presented confidently in our assemblies to update the school on the progress they had made and what more was to come. Following this, and their achievement of the Silver Award, students gained their moment of fame, being filmed by ITV Central News to talk about their efforts – what a fantastic recognition of their hard work!
Despite the lockdown, students continued to maintain their focus on sustainability within their lessons, for example in DT they carried out an ‘Eco Chic’ project to recycle, reuse, repair and rethink how to turn unwanted or discarded items or material into a new must have useful product.
As well as congratulating the Eco Reps for their outstanding achievements, the whole school students & staff should be commended for their help towards environmental awareness and sustainability and therefore the attainment of the Green Flag Award – well done to all!