St Catherine’s achieves Eco-Schools Silver Award
March 4th, 2009
This award is testimony to the hard work and dedication of the St Catherine’s Green Team and the commitment that the School has made to promote sustainable development, creating an ethos of sustainability into the School’s day-to-day operations. Eco-Schools is one of five environmental education programmes run internationally by the Foundation for Environmental Education and St Catherine’s incorporates the National Framework for Sustainable School eight doorways.
Nicola Rowe, Phoebe Jones and Matilda Mills
In order for the School to receive the award the Green Team members have had to demonstrate that they have met a range of criteria that includes: developing an Eco-Code and a detailed action plan and sharing them with the rest of the school community; completing an environmental review and developing a range of sustainability initiatives across the school including one large scale project.
The girls have delighted in the opportunity to take ownership of environmental initiatives and have received their first certificate from LMB’s Berty Bin scheme, run in partnership with the local authority, where reused and recycled textiles and shoes are used to create jobs overseas and in the UK and in supporting children’s charities. St Catherine’s has collected more than an astounding 250 pairs of shoes so far.
The Green Team has recently launched two competitions within the School, one aimed at reducing energy consumption and the other challenges pupils to create a fashionable piece of clothing with minimal environmental costs, culminating in a fashion show, before the winner is announced.
The school is participating in the Kew Millennium Seed Bank’s ‘Save Our Seeds: Schools’ Seeds Longevity Project’. The Millennium Seed Bank Project (MSBP) has been described as one of the most significant international conservation initiatives ever undertaken. Experts predict that by the end of this century 50% of the world’s plants will be condemned to extinction, leading to the disappearance of animals as their natural habitats vanish. Save Our Seeds is a National Research Project where school pupils across the UK help the MSBP answer questions about seed longevity. Participating schools will be able to generate new information allowing the MSBP to revise their re-test intervals for seeds stored in the seed bank vaults based on the research that pupils have carried out.
These are just a few examples of the work inspired by the Green Team and St Catherine’s is now looking forward to the challenges of the Green Flag Award.
