Eco Schools Statement

For further information please visit www.ecoschools.org.uk

St Mary’s School first became involved with the Eco Schools programme in September 2006.  Since then it has gone from strength to strength.  We achieved the Bronze Award in February 2007, followed by the Silver in June 2007.  We were awarded our first Green Flag in May 2008 and our second in March 2010, making us the only senior school in north Essex to have been awarded 2 Green Flags, and one of 2 in the whole of Essex.  We are incredibly proud of all of our achievements and the whole school community is committed to creating a sustainable environment in which to educate future generations of young women.

We recycle as much as we can, however, we are all too aware that to reduce or re-use is better for the environment and we have many projects within school which aim to do just that.  In a recent attempt to offset our carbon footprint we took part in a tree planting exercise at our Lower School in conjunction with The Woodland Trust.  We also endeavour to use local suppliers and contractors for all our needs wherever possible.

The Eco Schools Co-Ordinator has attended courses and conferences such as Green Leadership run by the National College for School Leaders, E.ON conferences in Nottingham and Girls Go Green at Cheltenham Ladies College.  She disseminates the material she has gathered at staff meetings and to the SLT.  The Eco Schools Co-Ordinator is given protected time on the timetable in order to carry out her duties.  Environmental awareness is embedded throughout the whole school, from its development plan to the individual subject schemes of work.  All staff take part in our annual ‘Eco Week’ and plan appropriate lessons and activities with an environmental theme.

The whole school development plan reflects the ethos of the school in terms of its commitment to the environment.  Energy use and water consumption are monitored regularly and we have a very effective waste management programme, where very little of our waste enters landfill; it is either re-used or recycled.  We are constantly looking for ways to improve our ‘green’ credentials and consider the environmentally option when carrying out refurbishment work at school, radiators have thermostatic controls and we are piloting sensor lighting in high traffic areas in the Senior School.  We also belong to an organisation called Virtual Skip where we can advertise items that we no longer need and donate them to other organisations that could make use of them.  In fact, we recently replaced some windows at school and our gardening club rescued the old ones to make a cold frame!

We use local companies where practicable to purchase stationery for school.  We employ a catering company that have excellent ethical policies, whether it be sourcing fish from sustainable stocks to using seasonal and local produce wherever possible.  All packaging is recycled or re-used at school for art projects (we recently won first and second prize in the local authority’s Eco Art Competition) and we have many innovative recycling projects at school, for example old school uniform is recycled for cash, which is re-invested to use for Eco Projects.  We encourage lift sharing amongst staff and pupils (via parents) and have a School Travel Plan that has been approved by Essex County Council.  All waste that can be recycled or re-used is, including metal, plastic, glass, paper and cardboard.  We compost and have chickens that benefit from fruit/vegetable scraps from the school kitchen.

We work closely with the local community and support initiatives such as Colchester in Bloom and East Anglia in Bloom, last year we won two prizes in the Colchester in Bloom competition.  As a potential Ambassador School for the Eco Schools organisation one of our responsibilities is to support local schools in their journey to becoming future Eco Schools.  Our Eco Schools Co-Ordinator is often contacted by schools as far afield as London for advice and guidance.  Many local schools have been inspired by our example and we are in the process of setting up a series of twilight training workshops for local schools in conjunction with Colchester Borough Council.

We work very closely with Colchester Borough Council in promoting Eco Schools and also with Essex Wildlife Trust on protecting and enhancing the biodiversity of our school grounds.

Since embarking on the Eco Schools programme in 2006 we have seen a gradual decline in energy consumption.  There was a marked reduction in 2007 and then a smaller decline, however, the trend is definitely downwards.  Water consumption has also followed the same trend, installing Hippo water saving devices into the toilet cisterns has contributed to this together with a greater awareness of conserving our natural resources.  We are currently investigating the feasibility of installing a Rainwater Harvesting system in school and are consulting with a local contractor.

Last summer we installed four photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of the kitchens at our Lower School, these are used to heat the water used within the school and nursery.  We are currently monitoring the effectiveness of this investment.

Each year group elects members for the Eco Team and we meet regularly to ensure that we are doing everything that we should be and to discuss future projects.  Each term the Eco Team hold a whole school assembly where they share information with the rest of the school on targets for energy saving and what the team are  currently working on.  Termly Eco competitions are held at school; this term we have a “Grub in a Tub’ competition where each form has to grow an edible garden in a recycled container, e.g. an old suitcase, desk, BBQ.  They have to include at least 6 varieties of fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers.  This has caused a great deal of excitement and healthy competition in school and is a great way to get teenage girls thinking about where our food comes from (not necessarily vacuum packed in a supermarket)!  All of the containers will then be entered into Colchester in Bloom in June, this is also a really effective way to involve the local community with what we are doing at school.