Eco Council

Allotment 

The children grow fruit and vegetables throughout the year in our school allotment - butternut squash, courgette, marrow, pumpkin, onion, pea, strawberry and raspberry.

The produce is displayed in church during Harvest Festival.  Some of it is then offered to a local charity who use it to make meals for their club members.

Bug Hotel

Eco Council made a ‘Bug Hotel’ using wooden pallets and lots of other materials that bugs might enjoy living in, such as terracotta pots, bark, leaves, twigs and pine cones.
They are hoping that lots of new ‘residents’ will move in over the winter.

Climate Justice

The children created artwork to support Climate Justice and displayed them in St James' Church to share with the community.

Eco Schools

Empowering Young People To Protect Our Planet. 

The children have achieved their Silver Award

Home For Hedgehogs - by Yr3 & 5 Eco Reporters

The children in Reception Class have been busy working on their excellent hedgehog home. They made it out of a range of objects which were: a big cardboard box covered with a white plastic bag, heavy duty tape (they call it Mr. Counsell tape), shredded paper stuffed inside the box, vent holes on both sides and brilliant drawings stuck onto the box. The children had lots of fun making it.
The hedgehog home has been put safely at the bottom of the woods under a fallen tree where the hedgehogs are safe and warm. Red class talked about a safe place for them to live (where they would not be disturbed). Lucca and George also found a small box and they thought that mice and baby hedgehogs might crawl into the box.

Here are some of the things the children said about this activity:
"I really had fun making it"
"I liked putting the paper inside for the hedgehogs to lay on.
"We put leaves into the box to keep it warm.”

Red class are looking forward to seeing if any hedgehogs are living there. 

Let's Get Wild In June

As part of 'Let's Get Wild in June' the Eco Council tidied up the Wildlife area and scattered seed bombs. Year 2 went to the allotment and helped keep the area tidy. Year 3 went pond dipping in the wildlife area. Year 4 carried out a tree study. Year 6 sketched their surroundings and observed the creatures living in our pond. Children form various classes searched the field for mini wildlife and also took photographs of our surrounding scenery.
The Eco Council then led a presentation to the school to summarise the events that took place to promote celebrating wild life over the summer holidays.

Modeshift Stars

We have successfully achieved our Modeshift STARS Oustanding Travel Plan accreditation, a scheme established to recognise schools that have demonstrated excellence in supporting cycling, walking and other forms of sustainable travel. Schools across the country are encouraged to join in a major effort to increase levels of sustainable and active travel in order to improve the health and well-being of children and young people.

We supported the East Herts Council Anti-idling Awareness campaign- Turn your key- be idle free, to coincide with the National Clean Air Day. The children created posters to show their messages.

RSPB Big Schools' Bird Watch 

Eco Council take part in this annual activity, joining thousands of other schools to find out which birds visit their school grounds. 
They make bird feeders and hang them on the trees just outside the music room. The children then complete the survey by observing the different types of birds that they see and the results are then sent to RSPB. 

If you want to try making some at home, here is the recipe.

You will need: yoghurt pots, string, drinking straws, lard, bird seed, loaf of bread

What to do:

• Pierce a hole in the side of the yoghurt pots and thread a string through.
• Tie a small piece of straw to the inside of the pot to stop the string coming back out.
• Put the lard into a bowl and soften it with a spoon.
• Add the bird seed and mix it in well.
• Crumble in the bread and stir into the mixture.
• Press the mixture into yoghurt pots and hang it out for the birds.

Now it’s time to sit back and watch how many different birds come to enjoy your lovely food!

RSPB Wildlife Action Award

The Wildlife Action Award is a scheme regarding finding out about wildlife, doing practical things to help and telling other people. Lots of things threaten our wildlife, but there are things we can all do to help.
Pupils worked through various activities from the following four sections to achieve their Gold Award - Finding Out What's There, Helping Wildlife, Being Environmentally Friendly and Spread the Word.
The RSPB awarded each child a set of gold stickers, a certificate for every class and a gave us a great new wildlife book titled '100 Bizarre Animals' to add to our school library.

The children have achieved their Gold Award

Sunflowers

The sunflowers the children planted in the allotment have grown very tall. The bees collect pollen during the summer months and when the flowers die the seeds are used to make bird food.

Visitors To Our Wildlife Garden

The Robin, Coal Tit, Blue Tit and Dunnock visit the feeders in the Wildlife Garden to eat the food made by the children.

Woodland Trust Green Tree Schools Award

The Green Tree Schools Award encourages outdoor learning and inspires pupils about trees, woods and wildlife.

Pupils from all year groups enjoyed working hard to gain the prestigious Platinum Award.