Groundwork North East and Cumbria
Sustainable Schools News Hi!
Issue 1 October 2012
I am Andrea Carling, the Education Programme Coordinator for Groundwork North East and Cumbria, a regional environmental charity. We have a fantastic range of exciting environmental projects we deliver in partnership with schools, take a look! Welcome to the first edition of the Sustainable Schools News, a half-termly publication sent to schools in the North East and Cumbria. We aim to share local success stories, disseminate funding opportunities and raise awareness of how your school can be supported to become more sustainable. Please read this newsletter, pass it on to colleagues and get in touch to be involved!
Spotlight on …… Groundwork’s One World Schools Programme Groundwork’s One World Schools programme aims to save your schools money on your energy, water and waste disposal bills while assisting you to reach tough Local Authority Carbon Reduction Targets, with an added bonus of increasing pupils’ skills and knowledge through a school-wide learning campaign. A specialist IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management and Auditing) member from our team will come to school to involve your pupils in conducting an audit of your school and making recommendations that will save you money and carbon emissions. Our education team will then work with pupils to carry out an awareness raising campaign in the school, to ensure that everybody is on board with the Be an Eco-School energy saving measures. We will and Save Money lead a staff meeting and an assemon Your Bills! bly that will focus on the small behavioural changes needed to save money. Typically, we can save you at least 10%
on your energy bills with small actions that cost nothing and we can often save you even more. Schools taking part in the One World Schools programme will be contributing towards their Eco-Schools awards, which we can offer on -going support with as required. Many of our staff are Green Flag Assessors and we can work with your eco-schools Action Team and advise you on how to get the coveted Green Flag Award.
CPD Programme— We offer bespoke INSET (Full / Half Day / Twilight) to schools on various topics—Forest School Taster, Taking Your Teaching Outside the Classroom, Growing Food in School, Outdoor Play, How to be an Eco-School / Green Flag.
Case Study—Forest Schools Centre of Excellence Groundwork is working with partners to deliver Forest School activities to 36 primary schools across the North East. Funding from Big Lottery Access to Nature enabled 12 woodland sites to be made fit-for purpose for 1200 children to take part in a 10-week programme of activities, delivered by Forest School accredited leaders. Activities include survival skills such as shelter building and cooking outdoors, nature study such as habitat exploration and species surveys, sensory exploration of the woodland environment through Earth Walks, Themed activities i.e. Olympics, Refugees, Senses, Habitats. Groups also used the forest as a stimulus for creative writing and artwork. The programme is adapted to fit in with topics currently being studied by the participant class and can be delivered to all ages groups and abilities. The project website, where session plans and further details can be found, is www.forestschoolsnortheast.co.uk. We also offer bespoke Learning Outside the Classroom activities for schools—including our programme for Special Schools—”Bird, Bees and Bats” –which can be delivered in your school grounds or a local greenspace. We have access to many sites including woodlands, Forests, allotment gardens, nature reserves and historic sites where we can give your pupils magical experiences with nature at a place local to you.
Groundwork North East and Cumbria
Sustainable Schools News
Comenius Programme –
Win a New Playground for your School!
British Council Comenius is an EU-funded programme, open to both Primary and Secondary schools. Up to 25,000 Euro is available for : Schools partnerships between UK and schools in other European countries; In-service training in other EU countries; Comenius Assistants – hosting a future teacher from another European country. Please see the website www.britishcouncil.org/ comenius.htm
Wickstead Playscapes are running an competition to win £25,000 to makeover your school playground. To enter, schools require the permission of the Headteacher to upload a photograph and an entry of up to 150 words as to why they should be the winner. The competition is entered via Facebook and people vote on the school they would like to win, schools with the highest number of votes will be shortlisted. Closing date 30th November 2012 for more information please visit www.wickstead.co.uk
Ashden Awards These annual awards aim to reward schools integrating the sustainable use of energy into the curriculum, pupil behaviour and school facilities. Two winners will each receive a cash prize of £5000 to expand or disseminate their work. The award is open to all UKbased Primary and Secondary schools. Schools do not need to have renewable energy to enter, or have the highest energy rating on their Display Energy Certificate. Deadline 23rd November 2012. For more information and entry criteria please see www.ashden.org.uk/schools_awards
School Grounds —We Can Help You! Our team of Landscape Architects and Learning Through Landscapes-Accredited Education Staff are here to help you to make the most out of your school grounds, assisting you in your school grounds improvement through offering advise on the consultation, design, fundraising and implementation stages. We can often assist you in finding funding for these projects too. Growing Schools – Our Growing Schools specialists can assist you in transforming a neglected patch of weeds into a growing school garden full of produce, working with the children, staff, parents and community volunteers. We can also offer activities on the allotment gardens we manage at various locations across the region. Extended schools / After School Clubs – We can work with Family Learning groups or out-of-hours clubs to develop growing areas in your grounds, carry out environmental play activities or explore the local environment. GreenStart – Working with the Early Years Foundation Stage, our trademarked programme offers activities with 0-5 year olds in their local setting, aimed at assisting them in environmental exploration and EYFS –linked independent learning.