Environment Day - Prep School
In order to raise awareness about the Environment and the effects we as a country are having on it, Alton Convent school gave one day to show the students what we could do to help. The whole school participated in a number of activities designed to highlight the large amounts of carbon used each day.
On Friday 9th November children of the prep school chose to come into school in a form of transport that reduced the planet’s “Carbon Footprint”. Year 6 pupils had conducted a survey asking how people came to school on a “normal” day. They conducted the same survey on Friday and compared the results. A staggering 25% of pupils managed to come to school another way including by train and bike.
We tried hard to reduce our electricity consumption throughout the school: lights were turned off and computers were not used. The heating was turned down, but not off, to simulate the effects of no power; this gave the children a sense of what life would have been like during times when electricity was not available, and reduced our daily power use by 44%!
For lunchtimes, the prep school were asked to think about the amount of packaging they used for their pack lunches. Once they had finished their cold lunches the pupils were asked to manage their disposables with more efficiency. Two bins were provided, one for compost and one for non-compost items. This particular activity gave the pupils the opportunity to think about the type of re-useable and non re-useable items we, in fact, throw away everyday.
Aside from this the prep school undertook several activities during the day designed to reuse particular items or use the environment for their arts and crafts. These activities included leaf printing, plastic bag weaving and sculptures made from recyclable items and natural materials.
As a way of raising awareness of environmental issues, I am confident that the pupils of the prep school left at the end of the day, understanding a little more about what they can do to help reduce our carbon footprint and become a little more eco-friendly.
Andi Walker, Prep Science Coordinator
