Sustainability

Sustainability at London Fields Primary

Promoting sustainable living and learning about the global climate crisis is a priority at London Fields.

We promote a sustainable ethos through all areas of school life. We are a terracycle centre for recycling crisp packets, biscuit wrappers and beauty packaging, and we compost all food waste. We are also working to reduce the use of single-use plastics. Two years ago we launched our own line of reusable London Fields water bottles and we have run campaigns both in and outside school to highlight this issue.  We have been lucky enough to receive funding for a 'living wall' in our Sheep Lane playground. The build was completed in August 2019 and is designed to reduce air pollution in the school grounds. This year, after working closely with The Garden Classroom, a charity who provides urban children and adults with transformative outdoor experiences devised to encourage active lifestyles, promotes self-discover, inspire growth and stimulate respect for nature, we will continue to develop the depth of our curriculum through a focus on Climate Change and Sustainability in-line with the DFE Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy.

- Our Eco Team

The Eco Team supports the school to promote sustainable living. They meet weekly and work on different environmental projects to improve the school and local area. They are responsible for sharing information with their classes. Some of the projects that the Eco Team have taken part in over the past few years are: planting trees donated by the Woodland Trust in honour of the King’s coronation, planting wildflower seed to attract pollinators to our Edible Playground, working with Hackney Council to conduct a waste audit of our school and implementing ways to reduce our overall waste, teaming up with Hackney Council and the Chewing Gum Task force to improve the appearance of the surrounding area, and encouraging pupils in the school to try to eat more fruit and vegetables with a fantastic tomato tasting experience for all year groups! Our Eco Team are also our sustainability champions, who continue to promote our Sustainability Mission: To meet our needs without hurting the world. As a school, after working closely with The Garden Classroom, we have identified five key problems we all need to address. These were: 

Edible Playground

At London Fields, all pupils have the opportunity to be involved in growing food in our purpose-built Edible Playground. Learning to cook is a crucial life skill that enables pupils to feed themselves and others affordably and well, now and later in life. We believe that instilling a love of growing food and gardening in pupils will enable pupils to have knowledge and understanding of where their food comes from and how we can reduce food miles and look after the environment by growing our own or buying locally produced food where possible. Curriculum links are made with Science to support pupils understanding of how plants grow and how compost is made. Gardening allows pupils to develop practical life skills, practise mindfulness whilst getting their hands dirty!