Walk to School 2021

This week is Walk to School week! 👣

The five-day challenge will take place from 17th-21st May and will encourage everyone to get to school by walking, cycling, scooting, parking & striding.... anything to get people travelling in a clean and sustainable way that will benefit our planet and local community.

Every school day, the school run adds a huge volume of traffic to our roads in the mornings and afternoons.  This puts large volumes of carbon emissions into the atmosphere which contributes to climate change.  It also impacts on the air quality in our local area which can have a negative effect on the health of children who are trying to walk or cycle to school and end up breathing in the fumes. 

Making the effort to walk or cycle into school this week will help to challenge and reframe our perception that it's easier to drive everywhere or that it's just too much hassle to walk.  Walking has so many benefits and not just to your physical health; it has been shown to improve concentration, boost creativity, and give people a better connection to their environment and nature.  You notice more when you're walking and it's fantastic to see the changes in your local area from one season to another. 

I've been trying to walk to school at least once a week (usually on a Friday) and to be honest, I really look forward to listening to a podcast on the walk in, and then taking a slightly longer more scenic route back home at the end of the day.  It really helps me to unwind at the end of the week, and it signals that it's the weekend and that I'm ready to relax and recover from a hectic week.  It's also shown me that it's not really that hard to walk in each day... and I can easily still do any errands on the way which I don't really need a car for.  And it saves money on petrol too!

Living Streets has a fantastic website with lots of information and ideas about how to help your school have a successful Walk to School week. Visit them here at www.livingstreets.org.uk 👣

The power of worms

If you're looking for something new to add to your forest school or outdoor learning area, then consider building a wormery!  They may not sound like the most appealing of structures to have, but they can be absolutely brilliant for teaching about the importance of soil and the processes that happen within it.  If you happen to be on a school site, you can add some of your school's food waste to it as well which helps reduce the amount of food that goes to landfill.  Having a wormery provides a great teaching point and can really help educate children on what happens within soil and how decomposers are some of the most important organisms in the ecosystem.  

You can make a simple wormery that will last for about a week (visit the Wildlife Trusts website to find out more).  All you'll need is a large (1 litre) plastic bottle with the top cut off.  Build up several layers of garden soil, compost and sand, and top with some fallen leaves or old flowers.  Then, hunt down some worms and add them onto the top layer of the wormery.  The'll soon bury down and start decomposing all the decaying matter.  Secure the top with some cling film and an elastic band - don't forget to puncture some holes in the cling film! Wrap the bottle in some card to make it dark for the worms and place it in a cool part of your outdoor space.  Check the layers every so often to see how the worms are doing, and add a little water as necessary to stop it drying out.  Finally, when you have finished with your wormery, release the worms back into the wild so they can continue doing their important work under our feet!

To make it a more permanent structure, buy a wormery which comes with multiple trays and layers for the worms to work their way through. This acts similar to a compost bin but has the added excitement of seeing the worms doing their thing.  How much of the school's food waste can you fit in the wormery?!

Earth Day 2021

Today we have been celebrating Earth Day and it has given us a chance to stop for a moment and think about the impact we are having on earth, our common home.

We have had lots of good conversations in school today about what we do that harms our planet, and how we might go about changing those behaviours.  I have been so impressed with the ideas that children have had in school, and I think it just highlights the importance of making green choices every day and the significant impact this can have over time.

Schools are great places to start when trying to make big social change.  If we instil those green values in young people, then they are more likely to go on and make sustainable choices later in life.  They can also influence people around them and other communities outside of their school life.

For the last year or so, I have been exploring ways of making schools greener places to teach and learn.  Many of the actions we can take are ones we know already; turn lights off when you leave the room, recycle paper, bring a reusable water bottle, eat all your food at lunchtime etc.  However, these changes alone are not always enough to bring about significant change.  They are also difficult to remember to do in the hectic nature of a busy school day.  I'd like to offer a few different ideas that might help to make a difference over time.  Some of them might require more effort or time but I guarantee they'll make a difference (and might save some money too!) Let's see how many you might manage to do?! 

🌍 Exercise books are a huge cost and use of paper -> swap them for slim, cardboard files or folders - this will save paper and glue as you won't need to glue worksheets in all the time; it should also save you a good amount of money, and time as you won't have to trim worksheets down to fit into books

🌍 Food waste can be a big problem in schools -> involve children in deciding on the school menu - this will give them to opportunity to express a preference which will lead to less food waste; make sure you buy local and seasonal as well

🌍 Schools can be very harsh environments -> bring plants into the school and classroom - green has a calming effect on the mind and the plants will help to purify the air; you can make it a task or responsibility for children to have to look after them and water them on a regular basis

🌍 Lots of water goes down the drain every day -> install some rainwater harvesters around your school grounds - the water can be used for watering plants, topping up a bird bath, or creating a mini pond; develop a little outdoor space or forest school area in which to do outdoor learning

🌍 Uniforms are often bought new or thrown out after use -> create a system where uniforms can be passed down or bought second hand to save them going to landfill; it will save parents money too, and you should encourage children to care for their clothes and belongings and not treat them as disposable or replaceable items

It is also a great idea to create an eco-council or green club within your school so that children can take ownership of what happens and change comes from within.  Sign up to become an EcoSchool with eco-schools.org.uk and follow their steps to becoming a sustainable school community.

🌍  Happy Earth Day!  🌍

Saving water

You might have noticed that it hasn't really rained much over these past few weeks.  Plants in the garden are looking a little drier than normal, and buds and leaves are seeming slow to burst and blossom due to the cold dry air that has been lingering for some time.  I've been out in my outdoor spaces trying to get things ready for early summer and get some seeds sown, but it hasn't escaped my attention that the soil is looking dry and cracked and in need of a good rain shower.

What we can do when nature needs a bit of a helping hand?  Turning the hose on and giving the garden a good old water is an obvious choice, but if water levels are low overall then we run the risk of depleting supplies even further.  Water demands are only getting higher with all the appliances that we run daily that use lots of water, and climate change is causing the supply of water available to decline. So what can we do?

Water conservation is the key and there are a number of actions we can take.  Year-round rainwater harvesting is a good option as it makes use of the natural abundance of water from the sky.  It is also a better choice than tap water as it doesn't contain chlorine and other chemicals that may exist in treated water.  You can also channel water from gutters and pipes that would otherwise go down the drain. Buy a water butt to store your water in and use a watering can to carry the water to the plants that need it.  

Grey water is water that has been used for washing and cleaning.  This water can also be used for watering plants though it's best to use it straight away rather than storing it.  Soil and compost can usually filter out any mild residue of soap and detergent.  Make sure you use this water on general plants and not ones that are going to be eaten.  

Finally, if water supplies are low then chances are that birds, insects and other wildlife are also struggling for a drink.  Consider putting a bird bath in your garden for birds to drink from or wash in.  Building a mini pond or even putting a large washing up bowl of water in your garden somewhere can also act as a vital drinking source.  Keep an eye on it and make sure it stays topped up as temperatures continue to rise and rainfall levels stay low.

For more information, visit the RHS website to find out how to save and store water.

The Wildlife Trusts website has some good information on how to build a pond.

Have a sustainable Easter!

It's one week until Easter and with lots of Easter egg hunts and games being planned, there is a risk of creating unnecessary waste and buying items that will be single use only.  Tonnes of packaging, toys and decorations are thrown out each year on festive days such as Easter, but with some sensible shopping choices and more crafty thinking, you can still have the same amount of fun but with less impact on the environment.

Here are some useful ideas or choices you can make when celebrating Easter this year:

🐥 Many chocolate brands are selling chocolate eggs without plastic packaging now; make sure you look for these and recycle the foil and cardboard appropriately

🐥  Buying ethical chocolate is also important;  look for brands that have Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance logos, or that are made without palm oil (often found in chocolate products as an emulsifier)

🐥 Try to make long-lasting or reusable decorations out of paper or material; keep them safe and remember to take them out each year

🐥 Make an Easter egg trail using painted stones; these can be used over and over, or you can even get children to paint their own stones!

🐥 Try making your own natural dyes and use them to colour egg shells and make patterns; cabbage, spinach, turmeric and blueberries work really well

🐥 Have a go at making your own hot cross buns; they're easy to do and just need a little bit of time to allow the dough to rise;  BBC Good Food has some good recipes

🐥 When planning an Easter meal, try to think about where the food is coming from and buy local/seasonal as much as you can

🐥 And finally, get outside and see what nature is doing at this time of year!  If you have a local farm, go and visit and see the newborn animals and buy some local produce while you're there

🐥🐰👒 Happy Green Easter! 👒🐰🐥

Earth Hour 2021

This time next week it will be the build up to Earth Hour 2021 🌍💡

The first Earth Hour was held in 2007 as a way of drawing attention to the environmental impact we are having on our planet.  Turning lights off is an easy action that we can all do to reduce our carbon footprint, but what other simple actions can we take to minimise our energy consumption?

I've been doing some research into schools and they are some of the most energy inefficient places you can find! From leaving lights on all day, to leaky taps, to wasting reams of paper... the wastage in some schools can be seriously high and this is sending a worrying message to young people.  However, schools are also an ideal place to highlight the inefficiencies that exist in all areas of our lives and show children easy steps to reduce our levels of waste and carbon emissions.  This will help teach them a valuable lesson and hopefully make them more environmentally responsible citizens in the future.

Here are some of my favourite easy steps you can take:

💚  Keep scrap paper to use for quick and simple activities that don't need to be kept

💚  Assign children to be classroom eco-monitors who can turn off lights and close windows

💚  Teach children the importance of looking after their belongings and not throwing them away as soon as they are damaged or broken

💚  Install recycling bins in all parts of the school and encourage children to bring in snacks in plastic-free packaging or reusable containers

💚  Have times where you turn off the lights and use natural light instead

💚  Invest in some low maintenance indoor plants to bring greenery into school and clean the air

💚  Install smart meters that help visualise the amount of energy being used 

💚  Incorporate some outdoor learning activities into your curriculum to help bring awareness to the importance of the environment and how much we are connected to it

To find out more about Earth Hour, visit earthhour.org and learn more about their mission

To learn about making your school more environmentally friendly, visit eco-schools.org.uk