Eco Action Vision Statement

At Highcliffe St Mark Primary we believe that all students need to develop an awareness from a young age of the environmental issues that affect the world we live in.  Educating the children about caring for our world enables pupils to develop the knowledge, skills, understanding and values to participate in decisions both individually and collectively.  Children are given the opportunity to make their contribution towards the local and global environment in which they live.  To increase this awareness, we create teaching opportunities across the curriculum, support local and national campaigns to help develop their understanding of these issues and most importantly, actively take part in concrete action towards making a positive change.

Our Eco Captains in Year 6 help promote all things green across our school.  They are responsible for driving our campaigns forward, highlighting events across the school, presenting ideas in assembly times and leading our Eco Action meetings.

Eco Captains meet with Mrs Hughes every week and lead a whole school Eco Council meeting once a fortnight.

This year our Eco Captains are: Isabelle, Ben, Layla, Archer, Zahra and Alfie.

If you have any ideas on how we can help our planet, please speak to your Class Eco Representative or a Year 6 Eco Captain.

Thank you.

Sunflower Competition

Our new competition will be to grow the tallest sunflower.  We are going to give each class some sunflower seeds to plant, each house will look after some and we will see which team can grow the tallest plant.  We are hoping that these will make a fabulous display for our community.  If you think you have green fingers and would like to join in at home, plant a sunflower seed in a pot at home and look after it.  We will let you know when to bring it in.  (If you need a sunflower seed, Mrs Hughes has some that you can take home to plant!)

Our mini hedgerows of crab apple, hazel and rowan trees have been planted behind the new KS1 play equipment and alongside an area of fencing by the field.  Last year Mrs Hughes and the Eco Captains entered a bid for trees to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee and won five of each.  It is fitting that we have now planted them for the Coronation.  Thank you to Mr Ottewil and Mr West for looking after them and helping us plant them.

Fairtrade Fortnight Competition

Thank you for all of the competition entries.  Mrs Hughes and the Eco Captains enjoyed judging them.  We hope the winners enjoyed their chocolate prizes donated by Tesco New Milton.  Our prizes were all either Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance.  You can find out what the difference is in the current edition of The Hub.  It is great to see all of the posters on display in classrooms around the school.

Recycle to Read Campaign

We are collecting batteries to recycle at the school office.  We can exchange the batteries for a voucher to buy some books for school!  Our first consignment has been shipped so watch this space!

Thank you for bringing in your books to swap.  Hopefully everyone will enjoy reading something new and maybe even something a little different.  Book swapping / sharing could carry on in the future with your friends and in class.  Did you know we even have a book swap shelf in the staffroom?  

Lunchtime Recycling

We have boxes to collect soft plastics in each classroom.  Please put your empty crisp packets and snack bar wrappers in here.  We empty them once a week and the plastics are taken to a local supermarket to be recycled.  You could try this at home - you will be amazed at how much you can collect!  

Please take home any food waste to compost it or to put it in your home food waste bin.  At the moment we do not have this facility at school.  Thank you.

Plants

Wow!  What a response.  School definitely looks happier with all our new editions.  We now have plants in classrooms, book corners and corridors.  See if you can spot them?  Any further donations of plants and attractive pots will still be gratefully received.  Thank you to Stewarts for some potting compost and pots and thanks also to the Oakhaven Hospice shop in Highcliffe who kindly passed on some of their donated pots.

Switch Off Fortnight

As a result of Switch Off Fortnight we now have energy monitors in each class.  It is everyone's responsibility to turn off lights and equipment when it is not in use.  We are much better at this in classrooms now but we need to think about the communal areas a little bit more.  Let's make this a good habit to get into!  Practise this at home!