How to be 'Greener'

Liza Askew / 14 November 2019 / Categories: In the press

This week, St Ives School in Haslemere, held a three-day Green Festival as part of its pledge to become an international Green Flag Award Eco-School. 

The school has committed to raise its understanding of the environmental issues facing the world and how the school can contribute, both as a whole and as individuals, to a more sustainable future.

The programme St Ives is following is run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.  Internationally, the programme is the largest educational programme in the world.  It is present in nearly 70 countries with millions of children participating.  St Ives is now part of this global community working to create environmental change for its pupils and future generations.

The first day of the festival was focused on the three R’s – Reusing, Reducing and Recycling.  The children brought in packaging from home which they then sorted into Recyclable and Non-Recyclable piles.  Working in house teams, some of the children created a giant world map out of newspaper and other recyclable materials, whilst others researched where the packaging was from, how far it had travelled and what form of transport was used to bring it to the UK.  The packaging was then placed on the world map to show just how far and wide our food travels before reaching our table.

Day two was about understanding the life-cycle of products.  The children considered what is involved in making mobile phones and jeans to make help them understand why they should be conscious of their buying habits, guided by St Ives parent and sustainability expert, Abbi Lee.  The children also had a visit from Steve Williams, Green Party Councillor, who taught the children about what it means to be ‘Carbon Neutral’.

The aim of the final day of the Green Festival was to consolide everything the pupils had learnt about the three R’s and how to manage waste responsibly.  St Ives parent, Caroline Arthur, who is a Wedding Dress Designer, helped the children learn how to upcycle clothes and introduced the idea of shopping in charity shops for their clothes.   Children also spent the afternoon making Eco-friendly Christmas decorations from natural materials like pine cones, wood and sticks, ready for a less wasteful Christmas.  Before half-term, pupils also took part in a Halloween costume swap where pupils brought in their pre-loved Halloween costumes and swapped them with friends, so that no one needed to buy a new outfit for Halloween, thus helping the environment.

Mrs Kay Goldsworthy, Head Teacher at St Ives, said “Our first Green Festival has been a huge success, with all our pupils learning about the environmental issues facing our world and how we are all responsible for making our future more sustainable.  I’ve been delighted to see how responsive the children have been to all the ideas that have been discussed.  Long may it continue!”