Sustainability

SUSTAINABILITY

We aim to become a sustainable school by reducing our ecological footprint through adopting sustainable practises in our everyday lives.  We will achieve this by integrating sustainability into all areas of the curriculum and instilling a sense of ownership and pride in improving the environment.  We wish to instil an understanding and awareness of the importance of sustainable practice in pupils, staff and our wider school community.  In line with the government’s goals to become a net zero nation, our school is committed to promoting the importance of sustainable living.

This year, Year 5 are working with the Green Schools Project to become a zero carbon school.  Zero Carbon Schools helps schools change the way they respond to the climate and nature crisis, putting climate education and action at the heart of school life.

What is Zero Carbon Schools?

Zero Carbon Schools is a cross-curricular programme for Years 4 – 8 with links to science, geography, maths, English, PSHE and art. As a result of the programme, pupils will:

• Learn more about climate change and feel empowered to take action in their school community
• Develop leadership, communication, problem solving and teamwork skills
• Calculate an estimate of their school’s carbon emissions
• Lead meaningful projects to reduce the school’s carbon footprint

THE ECO TEAM

For the first time at Albany Juniors, we have a school Eco Team.  They have been working hard to plan and run projects that will help our aims of becoming more sustainable and climate friendly.  

So far, they have delivered a whole school assembly to talk about how important it is that we start to take a more active role in reducing our carbon footprint and have been busy coming up with ideas of how we can help the environment. Already, they have purchased litter pickers and will be running litter picking events in school with each year group.  

Other projects in the pipeline include: 

• Poster competitions
• Environmental friendly planters
• Red, amber and green spots on electronic equipment
• Energy monitors 
• End of term shut down monitoring
• Meat free days
• Monitoring the use of single use plastic

Earlier in the term, they met with James Verness from Energy Sparks and looked at thermal hotspots in school.  James delivered a whole school assembly all about climate change and how major companies are working together to help reduce carbon emissions and look after our planet.