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Sustainable Schools reap rewards
24 February 2010
Two schools working with Waste Watch programme have been named Green Champions in the Wandsworth Green and Heartbeat Awards. Burntwood School in Wandsworth won the Green Award for secondary schools, with Tooting's Sellincourt School taking the award for primary schools.
Both schools are an active part of Waste Watch's Sustainable Schools programme, which supports staff and pupils to learn about how their actions impact on the environment, and helps them to improve sustainability at school, at home and in the community.
In Burntwood School, pupils conduct litter audits, participate in Waste Watch's secondary schools conference and raise environmental awareness amongst other students through an Eco Ambassador scheme. Sustainability has also been a key consideration for Burntwood during the design of their new school building.
Waste Watch has worked with Sellincourt School to calculate and reduce the school's carbon footprint. The school has recently been awarded Eco-Schools Silver and has an Eco-Code to promote environmental awareness. Pupils grow, cook and eat their own organic fruit and vegetables, compost the peelings and conserve rainwater in a water butt. Students are also encouraged to walk to school. Together with Waste Watch, the school is drawing up an action plan to reduce its energy use.
Commenting on the awards, Waste Watch's Sustainable Schools Programme Manager, Dr Vassia Paloumbi said, "We're very proud to see these two schools rewarded in this way. An education in sustainability is essential for young people. Recent OFSTED research shows that young people learn about sustainability when given the chance to take part in practical activities both in and outside the classroom.
We are keen to see schools making teaching and learning about sustainability a priority for both staff and pupils, just as these schools are doing with great success."
