Week Commencing: Monday, 6 June 2011
What a load of rubbish. Eco-friendly litter pickers at BGTC. A group of Year 10 students donned the rubber gloves, grabbed a bin bag and went litter picking in the Key Stage 4 playground as part of their Environment project in Citizenship and to work towards our Eco-Schools Award. “The whole class was there with Miss Blair and we all really enjoyed it!” In the grading criteria for Eco-Schools our school would get a B, which means there is very little litter and means we could work towards our Green Flag status. “There was less litter than we expected. We also had some help from Mr. Hart.” What do you think about our school environment? Could we make it even more environmentally friendly? If so, would you help?
Green by name, green by nature. BGTC joins Eco-Schools With all the fantastic “green” projects being led by students at BGTC we have decided to join the Eco-Schools programme. Having formed an Eco-Committee, made an action plan for the coming months and reported on all the great work done so far we have now achieved our Bronze Award. Well done everyone! Eco-Schools is a great way for us to learn more about key “green” issues such as water, l i t t e r, e n e r g y a n d t h e environment and explore ways of improving our school accordingly. More next week...
Lights out. Student waste-busters demand big “switch-off”. Our Citizenship students believe that teachers could definitely do more to reduce the amount of energy we use as a school. “One of the main issues in our school is the teachers that go to lunch without turning off their computer or switching off the lights in their classrooms.” As a school we need to take responsibility for reducing our energy use and highlighting these issues is the first step.
sticky Water waste of water. Report taps. Our “eco-aware” students also spotted water being wasted due to faulty taps in the toilet sinks. Their push-down action is designed to save water as it turns itself off but if you do spot one that is sticking please report it to a member of staff, speak to Eddie (our Premises Manager) or post a note in a voice box to let us know and we’ll get it fixed. www.bgtc.org.uk/wordonthestreet
Ten “green” bottles
Tap into tap water. Sink, drink, think!
Waste not, want not. Connecting Classrooms, climate change blog The Connecting Classrooms team, made up of student and staff representatives from schools in both Tower Hamlets and Bangladesh, have also turned their attention to “green” issues. The group are exploring environmental issues including the causes of climate change and how it may be affecting Bangladesh. Students from BGTC, Central Foundation and St. Matthias Primary also plan to present their findings to our MP, Rushanara Ali. Check out their blog now and watch their first video uploads about littering and waste management. For more information, see Ms. Gledhill. Visit, sunamganjth.primaryblogger.co.uk
We all know that it is important to drink plenty of water, especially with all the hot, dry weather we are having at the moment. Apologies if it now starts raining for weeks on end, I probably spoke too soon! Anyway, water is good for you - this much we know, but tap water is even better because it is good for you and good for the environment.
Drinking tap water instead of bottled water means that the water is fresh, it is locally sourced, doesn’t require any transport to get it here and doesn’t use bottle after bottle that we throw away. Not only is water good for your health (it is good for your skin and helps remove waste and toxins from your body) but it is also good for learning. Drinking plenty of water stops you from getting dehydrated that can seriously affect both your physical and mental performance at school. Research has shown that a 2% drop in water intake can cause up to a 20% drop in mental performance. Your body is 75% water, so keep refilling it! Water taps are located in both playgrounds for you to refill your BGTC bottles during break and lunch.
Word of the week
environment
-noun
1) the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal or plant lives or operates (usu. with adj.) the setting or conditions in which a particular is carried out in: a good learning environment. 2) (the environment) the nature world, as a whole or in a particular geographical area, esp. as affected by human activity.
This week
Last week
The name of the game this week is precisely that - names!
Last week’s puzzle couldn’t have been simpler. We asked, “What word is pronounced differently when the first letter is capitalised?”
Mary’s mum has four children. The first child is called April. The second child is called May. The third is called June. What is the name of the fourth child?
The answer: polish.
As always, post your answers in a Voice Box or return them to Mr. Pedley.
www.bgtc.org.uk/wordonthestreet
aA