Environment & Sustainability

Environment, Climate-change and Sustainability Action Plan

Vision and moral purpose

At Edmonton County, we believe that the school has a moral responsibility to educate the school community on environmental issues, the climate crisis and sustainability, and to work together to make positive and meaningful changes to support the UK’s net-zero strategy.

Aims

to reduce the school's carbon footprint; set achievable goals for climate-responsible changes
to inform students about environmental issues, the climate crisis and more sustainable ways to live
to empower students in making positive environmental choices, including those associated with food and drink
to promote ‘active travel’; encourage less transport on the roads and encourage fitness at getting to work
to ensure we adopt a ‘remove, reduce, reuse, repair, recycle’ approach to purchasing of resources and waste-management; to become single-use plastic-free school; to become as ‘paperless’ as possible
to make better use of green space around school and have the students seeing the benefits of being outdoors and appreciating the natural world
to set up an Eco Council and develop student leadership on these important issues; become an Eco School
to fulfil the objectives set out in the DfE’s policy paper: Sustainability and climate change: a strategy for the education and children’s services systems, Published 21 April 2022. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sustainability-and-climate-change-strategy/sustainability-and-climate-change-a-strategy-for-the-education-and-childrens-services-systems

This action plan is organised under 8 focus areas:

Area 1: Leadership (staff and students)

Area 2: Education and curriculum

Area 3: Energy and energy use

Area 4: Food, drink and canteen provision

Area 5: Purchasing and consumable resources

Area 6: Waste and recycling

Area 7: School grounds

Area 8: Transport and travel

Area 1: Leadership (staff and students)

Aims:

To establish staff and student structures to lead and manage this action plan

Objectives

Staff steering group

Establish a staff working group to lead and manage the above programme
Publish a regularly updated page on the school website sharing the actions of the working group and student environmental Leadership Team

Student Environmental Leadership Team

Establish a student environmental leadership group to support the above programme
To successfully apply to become an ‘Eco School’.

Area 2: Education and curriculum

Aims:

To ensure that the climate emergency is taught in a cross-curricular manner throughout all key stages

Objectives

Curriculum audit

Audit where climate change is currently taught across all subject areas

Curriculum development

Explore links to climate change, environment & sustainability across all subject areas.
Introduce project-based learning to develop education for sustainability as a cross-curricular theme.

Assembly / tutor-time programme

Ensure climate change, sustainability and environmental issues are regularly addressed through the assembly, tutor-time and Enrichment Day programme

Area 3: Energy and energy use

Aims:

To reduce the energy consumption of the school
To increase the proportion of energy used from lower-carbon sources

Objectives

Buildings

Replace single-glazed windows on Cambridge Science block through a successful CIF funding bid
Replace single-glazed windows on Bury main block through a successful CIF funding bid
Where possible, improve the roof and wall insulation of school buildings
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) ratings for all school building to be improved

Lighting and Electrical / electronic devices

Ensure all new or updating lighting is low-energy and/or motion-sensitive Move to having most computers auto-switch-off overnight
Remove and recycle unnecessary / outdated electronic devices

Heating and hot water

Reduce costs, gas usage and carbon footprint of heating the school premises and providing hot water
Research the feasibility of installing new, lower-carbon, heating and hot water systems

Energy generation

Install solar panels on the roof spaces of buildings on both campuses

Energy purchasing

Research the feasibility of purchasing energy from renewable suppliers
Ensure energy consumption is monitored monthly and yearly to assess impact of the actions above

Area 4: Food, drink and canteen provision

Aims:

To reduce the amount of food with a high carbon footprint consumed in the school
To reduce the amount of over-processed food consumed in the school
To increase the proportion of food consumed in the canteen that is locally sourced or produced

Objectives

Canteen menus

Increase the proportion of vegetarian and vegan options
Increase the range of healthy snacks available

Sourcing of food and ingredients

Canteen catering company to review suppliers to maximise the amount of local produce used in the canteen
Use the produce a school ‘market garden’ / allotment in the canteen

Area 5: Purchasing and consumable resources

Aims:

Reduce the amount of photocopying and printing
Reduce the amount of plastic resources consumed by the school

Objectives

Photocopying and printing

Develop a ‘paperless school’ approach to further reduce the amount of paper and toner consumed for printing and photocopying using the printing account system and controls on PCs.

Review purchasing policy so that:

We purchase environmentally friendly, fair-trade products where possible
Reduce the use of laminating for indoor display items
Single-use plastics and unnecessary plastic items are no longer purchased, including plastic covers for exercise books and textbooks
We use more ‘eco-friendly’ cleaning materials where possible

Area 6: Waste and recycling

Aims:

To take the ‘5Rs’ approach of ‘Remove; Reduce; Reuse; Repair; Recycle’
To reduce the amount of packaging used by the school, in particular single-use plastics
To reduce the amount of waste produced by the school
To increase the proportion of waste that is recycled

Objectives

Remove and reduce single-use plastics in the canteen

In the canteen, the amount of non-recyclable / single-use plastic waste is reduced, in particular:
- Drinks in plastic bottles phased out, with only drinks in cans and cartons sold
- All packaging for sandwiches needs to be fully recyclable
- Phase out plastic cutlery and replace with metal cutlery or disposable wooden cutlery
- Shrink-wrap plastic packaging, particularly on individual biscuits, etc to be minimised
Disposable plastic cups for staff to be phased out

Reduce the amount of single-use plastic brought into school

Water coolers for students installed in canteens
Staff and students encouraged bring re-usable bottles to school and refill from new water coolers
Advise students not to bring energy drinks into school

Recycling programme

All classrooms and offices to have clearly marked recycle bins, with labels showing what can and cannot be recycled
- Tutor groups to have recycling monitors, who will ensure bins are being used appropriately
- Each member of staff to be responsible for use of the bins in their classroom / office
Bottle and can recycling bins are made available in the canteen
Existing schemes for recycling printer and photocopier toners maintained
The school to research the feasibility of joining recycling schemes for other items, such as batteries and stationery
The number of wheelie bins increased to manage the potential increase in the amount of recyclable waste

Area 7: School grounds

Aims:

To make best of use of the school grounds to reduce the school’s carbon footprint and promote constructive responses to the climate emergency

Objectives

Tree planting programme

Increase the number of trees on the school grounds

Allotment Project

To allocate areas of the school grounds to the growing of fruit and vegetables by developing allotment / ‘market garden’ areas on each campus
Use these areas as a teaching and learning resource

Wildlife areas

Encourage wildlife on to the site by leaving some areas of the grounds to ‘grow wild’
Use these areas as a teaching and learning resource

Area 8: Transport and travel

Aims:

To reduce the number of journeys to and from school that use methods of transport with high carbon-footprints

Objectives

Cars

Install 6 electric car charging points in car parks across both campuses
Promote car-sharing – set up a car-sharing system for staff

Walking and cycling

Update the school travel plan – primary and secondary
Promote ‘active travel’ walking and cycling to school programmes for students including ‘Walk on Wednesdays (WoW)’ and Bikeability training schemes
Promote cycling to school for staff, including the cycle purchase scheme, including electric bikes
Look into the feasibility of providing bicycles for staff to borrow use to travel between campuses

Minibuses

When it is time to do so, replace minibuses with EV equivalents