Eco Warriors

Eco-Warriors

Our school is very proud to say we have renewed our eco flag and have passed with flying colours! As an Eco School we recognise our commitment to developing strategies that sustain and enhance resources and the environment. 

Miss Pepall had the following message regarding the renewal of this award.

'This year we have been super proud of how the whole school has contributed to our renewal of the green flag. We helped our wildlife by creating bird feeders in lockdown and EYFS also have their very own bug hotel. We all looked into ways we can save energy around the home and in school by ensuring we are turning lights off when they are no longer needed. During walk to school week we saw less cars than usual around the school gates which means less car emissions polluting the air. We are also still continuing our recycling schemes and we have collected lots of pens, batteries and crisp packets so far year! Well done everyone.'

Current Eco Warriors are; 

Autumn Term - Energy Saving

This half term we have been focusing on reminding everyone in school the importance of saving electricity. We conducted a survey throughout the school and we found out that:

- many classroom lights are left on when noone is in the room

- interactive whiteboards are left on in any classrooms as well as laptop screens

- lots of classrooms also leave switches on for appliances not in use.

We have identified switches that need to be turned off and spoken to our teachers and peers about this. We are hoping that by making these small changes and switching things off, we will help save electricity!

Spring 1 Term - Biodiversity

For our biodiveristy topic, this half term will we be completing the Big Schools Bird Watch 2024. In order to increase the number of birds that visit our school, we will be creating bird feeders for the outdoor environment!

Everyone in school is encouraged to take part in the Bird Watch this term. We are hoping this will help children get closer to nature, learn about birds in their environment and know how to identify common species of birds. 

Maybe you could look out for different birds on your way to school or during break or lunch time. Or maybe, you could spend some time at the weekend making a note of which birds you can see from your window at home.​You could count different types of birds, make bird feeders, write your own fact files about birds, draw different birds.​

Past Projects include:

•         WRITING INSTRUMENT RECYCLING:

Terracycle pen recycling – Recently we were able to send over 15kilos of used pens to Terracycle. These pens will then be recycled to be used all over again! We will continue to recycle pens in the future so please ensure you bring all used pens to school and these can be placed in the pen collection bin at the front office, Monday -Friday 9am-3pm.

•        BAG2SCHOOL:

the Eco Warriors organises a clothes & shoe collection with Bag2School in order to raise funds for the school as well as helping the environment by diverting unwanted textiles away from landfill.

Bag2school clothing and shoe collection – We have organised a clothing and shoe collection with bags2school which raises funds for the school and also keeps items of clothing/shoes from going in to landfill.

• PRE-LOVED UNIFORM

Uniform club – We have a new “nearly new uniform” club that has been developed, where parents/carers are able to donate used uniform, that is in good condition, for other children to make use of. Parents/ carers can then submit a request for uniform at a very minimal cost, therefore we are preventing uniform from being put into landfill when it still has lots of life left in it!

• HARVEST FESTIVAL

Harvest festival – we have asked our Dilkes families to donate tinned/dried/packaged foods to our Harvest festival which will then be shared with those in need. Although some of this may be bought new, others are donated from home and may have ended up not being used or thrown away. We are therefore again able to prevent good, usable food, from going into landfill.

Recent Projects include:

1. Tackling waste

•         BOOK EXCHANGE EVENT:

Dikes Eco-Warriors and Reading Ambassadors joined forces to run our first ever Book Exchange event.   Following a wave of publicity posters made from recycling paper and designed by the Eco-Warriors. Children from Nursery to Year 6 brought in books that they no longer wanted to read, ranging from The Gruffalo’s Child to The Diary of the Wimpy Kid.  During the event over 230 books were swapped and everyone seemed very happy with their new reads. 

•         BATTERY HUNT

Every Year there is a battery hunt, where adults and children bring in their used batteries for them to be recycled by Duracell.

 Biodiversity

•         TREE PLANTING:

The Eco Warriors have teamed up with the school council in creating a child friendly orchard on our school grounds. We have been lucky to be part of the government funded tree planting project that took place with Thames Chase and their wonderful volunteers, who came into the school to bring the Eco warrior’s eco-friendly plan into action, helping them create their child friendly orchard and to teach us a little bit more about the importance of trees and how to care for them.
 

Water

•         Water wise:

The Eco-Warriors organised a fantastic production in school called ‘Super Splash Heroes’. The aim was to help everyone in school to become “water wise”. They taught us all about the importance of water conservation and how they can be Super Splash Heroes and save more water at home.

Pupils at Dilkes Academy gained an understanding of how much water that they use at home and school, and how much water is wasted. Pupils now understand the principals of saving water and how they can make simple changes to their water using habits. Pupils can explain in the action that can be taken to reduce our water use.