Sustainable Development Placement Task:
MAP OF SCHOOL GROUNDS.
Key:
• Blue area – gravel playground.
• Green area – school garden within the school building.
• Black area – school building.
• Green line – grass area.
• Black line – car park.
The school has a lot of area and on-going projects that encourage sustainability and sustainable education is a priority. There are two councils within the school that are based on sustainable education; the eco warriors and the garden council.
The eco-warriors:
Within the eco warrior’s council the children focus on the environment and how the school can become better at recycling, reducing and reusing items that are used within the classroom. I was lucky enough to be involved with a litter pick that the eco-warriors were taking part in, they worked in partnership with the community safety officer. During the litter pick the children discussed how they can keep their playground tidy and how they will get their message across to other pupils and members of the community. The children created posters with headings such as ‘Keep our playground tidy’, ‘Bin your snack’ and ‘Bin your dog’s mess’. These posters get displayed throughout the school.
The garden council:
The garden council focus on the school garden and maintaining it. They also focus on how it can be used for outdoor learning and encouraging others to look after wildlife and plants. Within the school garden there is; bird boxes, flower beds, raised beds, compost boxes, outdoor learning tools, an insect hotel, and benches. The children have posters just outside of the garden area that show what kind of insects or plants can be found within the garden. While the garden council focus on maintaining the garden, the whole school have opportunities to visit the garden and participate in outdoor learning.
Recycling:
Throughout the school there are recycling bins and the children understand why they are there and the purpose of recycling. Within some classrooms there are bags that are for paper waste. There are bins in the playground for the children to bin their rubbish and areas for recycling within the lunch hall.
Play area:
The play area is big however there is much more gravelled area than grass area. The children have the opportunity to play on the grass and look at the trees that are planted there. The children can use the branches and leaves from the trees for outdoor play and can explore the variety of colours on the leaves. They can look for bugs at the grass area. As the space is large there is an opportunity to take learning outdoors, I have observed children using sticks and stones for a mathematics lesson.
Childrens views:
Here are an example of some of the childrens views on sustainable education:
• C – “Our playground gets messy, you need to keep it clean.”
• M – “I like to recycle because it helps the environment.”
• J – “I want to help the planet.”
Eco Code:
