Crickhowell High School, Powys

What did you do and how did you involve the whole school?

Subject leaders created lesson resources and plans around the theme of ‘Save our Oceans’.

A trip to Rhossili, Gower was undertaken for all of Year 7 and 8 in partnership with the Marine Conservation Society to observe plastic pollution and conduct a beach clean.  Students created work such as articles, maps and posters on the issue of plastic pollution and these were shown in an exhibition to the local community.  The Eco-Committee reviewed water fountains and decided the best place to install three new ones to encourage people to refill, rather than buying new bottles.  A non-uniform day was held with students wearing blue to raise awareness of plastic pollution and money for the water fountains.

How and why did you decide on this target?

A need was highlighted in the environmental review and the idea partly came from the Eco Committee meetings, where students had seen the issue in the media and wanted to address this.

 

How has the project impacted on your school and your community?

Three more water fountains were installed around the school building and students now bring in refillable containers more, rather than buying bottled water.  The money for the water fountains was raised in the non-uniform day, with a total of £592 being collected.  The beach clean resulted in three black bin bags of litter and plastic debris being collected from around Rhossili.  We held an ‘Oceans Showcase’ exhibition after school in July, in which the local community attended and learned about the issues through seeing the work completed on the theme by the students.  We had a lot of positive feedback from local people and businesses that they would reduce their plastic use and look for alternatives.

 

How did you celebrate success and what are your next steps?

We now have the theme of ‘Save our Oceans’ and waste minimisation, explicitly covered in all subjects with new lessons and even new schemes of work designed around it, such as for key stage 3 Geography.

So far, this academic year, we have already started lobbying Powys Catering who run the canteen to replace the plastic forks used and to reduce the plastic cups that they currently use, which total one hundred per day.