Our Roots & Shoots Eco Group Have Been Hard at Work!
Since starting our Roots & Shoots Eco Group, we have been working hard, looking at ways we can improve on our school's environmental awareness and impact, especially as we are now working towards our 'Eco-School Accreditation'. The Eco Group decided to run a 'How Eco Friendly is Your Class?' Competition where every day the Eco Group went round to all the class rooms and checked on how many children had travelled to school by ways other than a car, were they putting their left over water in the classroom watering cans for plant watering, checking their bins to make sure compostable or recycle-able waste was not being thrown away, and looking at the amount of paper waste they had produced - were they trying to reuse it? At the end of the term, they tallied up the score and the winning class was announced in assembly. They were lucky enough to receive a class treat of their choice.We have had meetings with Ashford Borough Council member, Claire Norman, who has given us some amazing leads on some possible environmental projects/events etc. One lead, is for a possible visit to Maidstone Paper Recycling Mill - this would be an amazing opportunity for the children to see the process of collecting, sorting and recycling of used paper.Another lead was a gentleman from Ashford Council Allotments who is coming into meet with the Eco Group to discuss all things allotments. Although our vegetable garden is looked after by the gardening club, this is still an environmentally friendly project as the children get to plant, grow and eat their own produce. He is very keen to help with our raised beds, our newly purchased fruit trees and all things 'grow-your-own'. This could lead to a possible visit to a large scale allotment where the children can see how to manage pest control naturally.We also now have a contact from South Water who is helping us with free water butts and trying to arrange a visit to see one of the South East Water Plants (fingers crossed). This would give the children an opportunity to see behind closed doors how a water treatment plant works thus allowing the children to see first hand how important it is to save this wonderful natural resource.