Sustainability at NHEHS

Sustainability

Sustainability at our core

Our new sustainability strategy heralds a crucial shift towards empowering our students with the knowledge and skills necessary to nurture a healthier planet and instil optimism through actionable change.

It permeates throughout our academic curriculum, co-curricular clubs, enrichment and charity initiatives, and is manifested in our new carbon-neutral sustainable Junior School.

“With its environmentally-friendly features, the building not only serves as an inspiring learning environment but also as a physical embodiment of the lasting impact our girls can make in the realm of sustainability,” explains Ms Kate Bevan, Head of Junior School.

Our approach

Five key areas in which we want to affect change:

Education and behaviour: Model effective climate action to pupils
Biodiversity and estates: Create more green spaces
Energy and water: Reduce energy and water consumption and our carbon footprint
Procurement, food, recycling and waste: Make smart decisions to source sustainably and reduce landfill waste
Travel: Encourage sustainable modes of travel

The role of Environment and Sustainability Lead was introduced in 2023 to bring our sustainability strategy to life and co-ordinate student-led initiatives that place pupils at the forefront of positive change. They are also responsible for developing the environment and sustainability curriculum and co-curricular clubs.

Our Eco Reps help educate our school community about sustainability, lead fundraising initiatives and work towards environmental awards.

School grounds

Landscaping around our new sustainable Junior School saw 29 additional trees planted. Playgrounds were surfaced with sustainable high-performance rubber from recycled trainers and manufacturing surplus by Playtop and Nike Grind and interspersed with meadow planting.

In the Senior School, Year 12 Geography and Eco Reps had the idea to repurpose plants leftover from the Junior School landscaping into an unloved outdoor space on the senior site. Gardening Club encouraged pupils to help with planting and watering and Pond Club created a habitat for newts and insects.

We’re moving suppliers to more sustainable providers, have Meat-Free Mondays and are enforcing stricter policies on reducing energy consumption by turning off screens and charging stations after hours.

The new Junior School solar panels are already reducing our electricity usage, as do the existing solar panels above the Senior main hall. Energy Sparks monitoring shows a 22% decrease in gas and power usage year on year.

“Some of the most innovative approaches to tech and environmental issues we’ve seen in any school, digital and sustainability strategies are closely interlinked, with ‘Earth Day unplugged’ taking a step back to reflect on digital learning.”

Good Schools Guide

Outstanding initiative

At our first Eco Summit in June 2024 we welcomed 90 students from eight local primary schools to our new sustainable Junior School.

Students were divided into mixed groups and took part in a variety of sustainability workshops in the morning, listened to a talk about rewilding and the Ealing Beaver Project by Citizen Zoo’s Urban Rewilding Officer Digby Wheeler, and discussed ways to implement behaviour change that will combat climate change in a collaborative forum.

“Having the opportunity to bring together our local community to share knowledge and ideas surrounding climate action has been the highlight of my year,” said Mrs Cassar, NHEHS’s Environment and Sustainability Lead who organised the summit. “We have wonderful local students and teachers that share a vision of environmental education in conjunction with taking meaningful action for our natural world.”

Students with Gold TFL Award certificate

Eco awards

In 2023 and 2024, we received a Gold TfL STARS award, meaning we are among the top 10% of London schools that have fulfilled the criteria of transforming travel habits and seen a measurable reduction in the number of journeys made by car. Our school bus now covers three routes and 25-seat minibuses were upgraded to 50-seat coaches due to demand. We plan to maintain this annual gold award and increase our bus routes where there’s demand.

We won the Gold Eco Schools Award and Gold Green Tree School Award from The Woodland Trust and were finalists in eco categories at Muddy’s Best Schools Awards 2024, The Week: Best of the Best Prep AND Senior awards 2024.

We recently won the Ealing Civic Society Annual Award 2024 in recognition of how the Junior School building has made a positive and beneficial contribution to the amenity of the London Borough of Ealing.

Eco highlights

40 pupils planted 195 trees on Horsendon Hill for National Tree Week in November 2023.
Hosted GDST ‘Careers in Sustainability’ conference in March 2024. Speakers included a renewable and clean energy investor, climate crisis manager, and a sustainability and climate strategy consultant.
‘Switch Off’ for Earth Day in April 2024 – assemblies on saving energy followed by outside learning and trying not to use electricity.
Annual GDST Just One Tree Day in May – girls dress in ‘green’ and donate to reforestation initiative Just One Tree. Junior Eco Warriors and Eco Councillors host a cinema experience.
Our first Eco Summit – over 90 students from eight primary schools attended in June 2024.
Parents’ Guild set up a second hand uniform shop to reduce waste and a pupil built the website.
Swapping events for Christmas jumpers and World Book Day costumes in the Junior School.
Junior School Pastoral Survey: pupils strongly agreed with the statement ‘My school cares about sustainability and the environment’ awarding it an average score of 5.7 out of a possible 6.