The children, teachers and Management at Bishopspark school are really interested in Environmental issues. Tapping into this enthusiasm acted as a huge motivator to the children and staff. The Eco school award scheme offered us a chance to pull all the strands of our environmental work together in a more coherent way. The scheme also challenged us to pursue some other areas of work that we had not covered.
Unlike most schools on the website, we are not in the UK. We are a Service Children's Education school (SCE). SCE is an Agency of the MOD and is dedicated to the education of the children of Service families and MOD personnel serving outside of the United Kingdom. Schools follow the National Curriculum (England). The children generally stay for approximately 2 to 3 years at a time. Consequently, there is a constant turnover of children during the academic year.
Why a website?
Having a website primarily helped in three ways: Firstly, we were able to communicate with Parents and to extended family members in the UK and other places in the world. Secondly, it allows us to communicate in a far more exciting and engaging way with the school community and our host nation. Finally, it uses a lot less backing paper and toner than a traditional notice board and we get to show a far greater variety of work which is also accessible to our past pupils.
Free website
The cost of the website hosting can be a little expensive, however ours was free. Schools.ik.org is a service owned and operated by Recipero Limited, it offers every UK school a free, self-editable website. The cost is paid for by B.T. They provide their support through their Social Policy initiative, BT Betterworld. It is well worth a look. We found the free service was excellent. The current site is based on the free package. You don't have to be an expert, but like everything, the more you do it the better you become. If you keep the format simple and have access to a digital camera you can have a website online in no time at all.
Eco Garden
SCE have provided us with a fantastic building and excellent facilities, the only constraint on our site is the size of the school grounds. On closer examination of our school site we realised that we had some pockets of space that could used for an Eco Garden. With some help from 35 Engineers, the area was cleared and the children then set about marking out the garden. The great thing about the website is that every step of the project was able to be recorded and displayed. Helpers from within the also got some recognition by having their help celebrated. The Eco Garden has been very successful and is now open as a lunchtime activity for our budding gardeners!
Energy Reduction
Like all schools the increased presence of electronic equipment is having an effect on our energy consumption. With the help of the Garrison Energy reduction team we were able to get some tips. We also enlisted the help of two super heroes, “Switch Boy” and “Switch Girl”. This duo was developed by a UK animation company Planet Sunday. The idea seems to have been a great hit with the children and we are looking forward to meeting our energy targets. A web page about the initiative also helps parents to back up our campaign at home.
Final thoughts
Our school motto 'respect for all by all' encompasses the values and ethos that are at the core of what we are about. This has made a massive contribution to our child centred concept of sustainable development. Children learn not only to respect their fellow pupils but also the wider community including those living far away. They also know that respecting others peoples rights means that they must also respect the planet. The scheme has allowed us to meet a number of our commitments to the Government’s Sustainable Schools strategy. It was great fun and we are looking forward to the next stage - Green Flag!
To see our website please follow the link: www.ecoschool.ik.org
| Green Flag: | 1,179 |
| Silver: | 3,905 |
| Bronze: | 4,648 |
