Go Green Week at Junior School
There’s been so much happening at the Junior School this week to celebrate Go Green Day and Walk to School Week. Our Eco Warriors kicked off the week with an assembly on the importance of planting trees and described the amazing reforestation work the non-profit initiative Just One Tree is doing across the world to combat climate change, which GDST have been supporting for the last few years.
Thanks to all the families that have supported their girls to participate in Walk to School Week and used environmentally sustainable modes of transport, such as walking, cycling, scooting, taking public transport or, for those living further away, a ‘park and stride’. Eco Councillors asked pupils on arrival how they travelled to school and those who used a sustainable mode of transport to arrive at school earnt a point for her House.
The Walk to School Week challenge shows the school’s continued commitment to promoting active travel and reducing air pollution around the school gates and your support is much appreciated – we know it wouldn’t be possible without parents adjusting the busy morning logistics, so thank you.
Monday and Tuesday were also ‘Scoot to School’ days, and those pupils bringing scooters could use them on the astroturf at morning break. Girls were also invited to ‘bling’ their bikes and scooters throughout the week and we saw a huge variety of inventive and fun decorations.
Wednesday was ‘Go Green Day’ and pupils were asked to dress in their interpretation of green clothing and donate a pound to Just One Tree. The clothes could be ‘green’ in any sense of the word from second hand or sustainably sourced to the colour green.
We also enjoyed an Outdoor Learning Day, which for Year 4 meant learning Latin in the garden! Read all about it here.
To raise further funds, the Eco Warriors and Eco Councillors teamed up to host a cinema experience that evening. Girls from Reception to Year 6 had a wonderful time watching Rio after school and donated £2.
Thanks to everyone who got involved – we wait to see how much money we have raised and how many trees will be planted on our behalf by Just One Tree and help to combat climate change.
View this post on Instagram
Junior School eco assembly
Year 5 and 6 Eco Warriors led an assembly about the importance of trees to kick off Go Green Week on Monday.
Year 6s read the story ‘The Man Who Planted Trees’ and Mrs Cassar asked ‘What can we do to change our dull areas to vibrant ones?’
The Year 5 Eco Warriors gave a detailed presentation about the work Just One Tree are doing to reforest areas around the world, including Mexico and Peru, which are the focus this year. Mexico is home to 6% of the world’s mangroves, a vital habitat to absorb carbon, 9% of which have been destroyed in the last 40 years. They are also replanting polylepis trees across the Andes to halt erosion.
With 10 million children in education, if each one donated a pound that would mean 10 million more trees in the world. The GDST has been supporting Just One Tree for a few years now and their donations have resulted in 18,000 trees so far.
Eco Gold Award
We have recently received our Gold Award on the Woodland Trust’s Green Tree Schools Award.
The Green Tree Schools Award encourages outdoor learning and inspires pupils to learn more about trees, wood and wildlife. Pupils take part in fun projects, such as tree planting and visiting woods, which help the environment and improve the school site.
NEXT GREEN EVENTS
Eco Summit
NHEHS will be running our very first Eco Summit on Friday 7th June. Ten schools and approximately 100 pupils will be joining us at the Junior School to discuss eco issues and learn about combating climate change.
The summit will include a 45-minute gardening workshop on how to increase biodiversity in your school, a VR workshop exploring arctic, savannah, desert, rainforest and ocean landscapes, as well as drama and STEM workshops.
The guest speaker will be Digby Wheeler from Citizen Zoos. Pupils will also actively participate – groups of students from different schools will discuss the initiatives they are implementing in their schools, ideas they wish to pursue and their goals for the next academic year. Pupils will also be encouraged to find ways to work together to make Ealing Schools more sustainable.
We are so excited to be able to bring like-minded individuals together in our beautiful sustainable new building and inspire the leaders of the future to be more green.
