Sustainability
News
London Fields achieved the Green Flag Award, with Distinction!
We are proud to announce that our school has been awarded the Green Flag Award with Distinction! This internationally recognised award is part of the Eco-Schools programme, which celebrates schools that are committed to environmental awareness and sustainability. Achieving the award with distinction means we have gone above and beyond in our efforts to care for the environment and involve our school school community.
A huge well done to our amazing Eco Team for their hard work and passion, which made this award possible!
Save our oceans!
This term we have been learning about continents and oceans in Geography. After exploring the human processes which are affecting our oceans, in our final lesson we made posters to raise awareness about these issues and suggested possible solutions to ease the problems.
Eco Team wraps up a fantastic year!
Today marked the final meeting of our Eco Team for this school year, and what better way to celebrate than with a delicious fruit party!
Throughout the year the Eco Team has been hard at work, making our school a greener, healthier place. They kicked off the year with an Apple Fayre, promoting healthy eating habits to the whole school community. One of the year's highlights was a workshop with explorer James Veness, who shared stories from his expedition to Antarctica, inspiring the team to think globally while acting locally.
The Team planted vegetables in the Edible Playground and looked after the space. They took part in a Force of Nature challenge and planted 100 hedges and 5 fruit trees, adding biodiversity to our school grounds.
Together with the Rights Respecting Team, the Eco team also led the Walk to School week campaign, designing eye-catching posters to encourage sustainable travel. To celebrate the end of the week, the team sold homemade fruit bowls and smoothies - a hit with children and adults alike!
The also designed a poster to mark the installation of solar panels on the rooftop of our school.
From switching off lights and boards when not in use to monitoring classroom temperatures, The Eco team incorporated the spirit of eco-consciousness in every detail of daily school life.
The Eco team is now in the process of applying for the prestigious Green Fag Award, and we have every confidence that their incredible work will earn them this well-deserved recognition.
Before parting, each member received a certificate of in appreciation for their efforts this year. A huge thank you and congratulations to the Eco team. We can't wait to see what next year brings!
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:
- -Energy
- -Water
- -Travel
- -Purchase Power
- -Waste
- Think global
- -Act local
- -Get involved
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!
