Sustainable Schools

Leader: Lauren Iveson

Sustainability means to act in a manner that exhibits awareness of how all things are connected and make well-considered choices for the greater good of all.

At the heart of being a sustainable school is the recognition that children depend on many factors for their well-being, including environmental factors, and are at risk from poor access to green and natural areas, road danger, pollution, noise and climate change.

At Poppleton Road Primary School we are continually working hard to ensure that these risks are as limited as possible and that we are providing our children with a wide and varied curriculum that includes sustainability at its core.

When are specific skills and knowledge taught?

At Poppleton Road Primary School, sustainable schools has links throughout the curriculum and is therefore thread through all aspects of school life. A few examples:

In geography, children learn about where food and products from around the world originate, the impact of transporting these items as well as major global events that are having detrimental impacts on our planet.

In English, all ages are exposed to a wide variety of texts which include fiction and non-fiction. For example, in Year 2, children have learnt about Greta Thunberg, David Attenborough and their fight for a more sustainable existence, which has been followed up by fiction texts such as The Storm Whale where children learn about the importance of taking care of all creatures and how it impacts life.

In DT, we encourage children to design and create products that include recyclable goods, waste materials destined for landfill and culinary items using local products. Children are encouraged to think about every aspect of their life and what their impacts have on not only their life but the lives of future generations. 

In Science, children learn about materials, whether they are natural or man-made, how they are used, why they are used, how they are produced and the impact that that has. Discussions on their sustainability take place at all ages using appropriate language and content.

During lunch, children are encouraged to bring healthy, packaging-free food wherever possible and any packaging that is able to be recycled through our Terracycle recycling scheme can be placed into easily accessible boxes.

It is also taught by having paper recycling bins in each classroom, as well as all classes having a station to collect plastic pens and glue sticks to be recycled.

How do we teach Sustainable Schools?

Sustainable Schools is mainly taught through all areas of the curriculum rather than stand alone lessons. All subjects lend themselves to sustainability and an awareness of our individual impact on the planet as well as a community.

Examples of learning:

Calculating food miles

Learn about landfill

Learning about fair trade

Where food comes from

Healthy eating

Environmental activists both living and from history

Materials

Plants and Trees

Continents and Oceans

Environmental disasters

Farming

Why do we teach Sustainable Schools?

The world we live in and the future that lays before us is everyone's responsibility and we therefore feel that everybody should be taught about how our lives impact on our future. Sustainability is avoiding depletion of our finite natural resources through understanding the impact that each one of us has on those natural resources and altering the ways in which we behave to ensure they don't disappear forever. Everybody wants a long, healthy and happy future and learning about how we can reduce our negative impact on the planet is the best place to start.