Towards a More Sustainable Future

TOWARDS A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Cindy Adair, Assistant Principal, Extra-Curricular Activities and Sports Bangkok Patana School

If there has been one positive from the mess that is the global COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been the slight reprieve Mother Nature has enjoyed. Here in Thailand we’ve witnessed the regeneration of our oceans, a much needed rest for our island eco systems and overall better air quality.

The pandemic opened up some time for us to examine our approach to environmental stewardship and work together to pen a stand-alone sustainability policy. For several years now Bangkok Patana School has had a vibrant Student Environmental Committee and underpinned by the Eco Schools programme, they have begun a range of small projects to improve our waste management, biodiversity and energy consumption around campus. They have successfully raised awareness in our community, especially via their highly successful annual “Waste Less Weeks” which feature:

Less Meat Monday - Promoting more plant based diets

Transport Tuesday - Promoting the use of public transport, ride sharing and walking/cycling to school

Water Bottle Wednesday - Promoting the use of reusable water bottles and keep cups as opposed to single use plastic

Turn if off Thursday - Promoting responsible use of electricity and energy sources

Finish It Friday -Promoting the reduction in food waste in our canteens and snack bars

We have had a proudly student-led provision supported by a core of passionate educators, but I am sad to say we’ve not always met the students’ ideas with the enthusiasm and support they deserve, largely because we didn’t have a framework within which to do so, or a culture of shared responsibility. Sustainability is embedded in our broader Global Citizenship values but it was becoming clear that it needed more attention to truly move forward.

So in 2021, whilst the pandemic was at its peak, we formed a staff cross campus working group to examine our whole school approach to sustainability. Importantly, we made sure to include key members of our Business teams who have such important roles in moving this agenda forward. We had representatives from our purchasing department, catering, buildings and grounds and marketing/events sit alongside our educators. Three months of work culminated in the following documents:

A whole school sustainability policy, which features: • Our overall philosophy • Key definitions • Responsibilities of Leaders • Responsibilities of Teachers • Responsibilities of Business Staff • Our approach to teaching sustainability in the curriculum (recognising that in some key stages this is explicit and in others it is embedded in play and daily routines • Communications

Alongside this we also created: • Green procurement guidelines • Green purchasing guidelines • An aspirational targets document and a Sustainability Advocates programme • The provision of an annual Green Report to record and celebrate our progress as part of our wider Stewardship Report • An online section of our intranet dedicated to sharing a range of sustainability resources and combining all the activities happening on campus in one central location

The next phase will be rolling out these new documents and policies to our whole staff, identifying our first group of Advocates and offering a several supporting CPL workshops for staff to further develop and contextualise their understanding of the document. These are planned for the latter part of this academic year and include: • Creating a more sustainable classroom • Sustainability in the curriculum • “Green” decision making for leaders

COVID-19 has been a key circuit breaker for the environment, as our roads, cities and schools get back to being the vibrant busy places we love, we are aiming to do things in a more sustainable fashion that safeguards the flora, fauna and natural resources on our campus for future students to enjoy. Is our new policy aspirational? Yes! Unashamedly so… we are setting a new course for a greener future.