Eco Committee

At Penbridge School, we have a dedicated Eco-School Council!

The Eco-School Council focuses on empowering young people to lead environmental education and action in their school, local community and beyond. It does this by providing a simple, seven-step framework that turns pupils into forward-thinking, decision-making, planet-protectors. There are multiple reasons we have decided to embark on the journey to becoming eco-friendly.

Firstly, our planet (and all life on it) is already beginning to feel the catastrophic effects of climate change, plastic pollution, biodiversity loss and a myriad of other environmental challenges. We want our pupils to be aware of the challenges our planet faces and will continue to face throughout their lifetimes. We don’t want our pupils to avoid or shy away from these challenges: we want to engage young people in conversations about them and provide them with the skills needed to tackle these challenges directly.

Eco-committee assembly

Great Big Litter Pick

Leading an Eco-committee

By doing this, we hope to empower our pupils with the passion and skills to protect our planet now and throughout their lifetimes, including as they grow to become leaders, decision-makers and educators themselves. We also hope it will help our pupils – independent research has found that pupil participation in Eco-Schools leads to increased confidence, development of leadership skills, improved behaviour and greater motivation at school.

We also anticipate it will help our school to consume less water, use less energy, and produce less waste, which creates financial savings for schools used on critical educational resources.

Our Eco-Committee members are yet to decide on the environmental actions we will embark on this academic year. However, over the coming months, you may notice ecological hints and tips on our school newsletters, litter picks, requests for donations, and, perhaps most noticeably, a young person in your home with a keen interest in all things environmental. This interest may manifest in various ways, including increase d awareness of correct recycling practices, a determination to switch lights off when not in use, and offers to help nurture nearby plants!

I hope you’re as excited about our Eco-Schools journey as everyone at school is – if you would like to find out more, please feel free to contact me directly.

Mr Rudgley, Eco-Coordinator

For information about eco-schools, visit https://www.eco-schools.org.uk/about/how-it-works