St. Joseph’s College has won a coveted Eco-Schools Green Flag Award! Members of our student-led Eco-Committee have been working hard this year to provide evidence of the work the College is currently doing to be more sustainable and embrace eco-initiatives. The application involved a 7-step process in which they had to undertake an audit of the College and then create action plans to work on. The committee divided itself into 3 sub-groups: Prep (Y5 & 6), Lower School (Y7, 8 and 9) and Upper School (Y10, 11, 12 and 13). Each sub-group was responsible for a different project.
The committee had to investigate how eco topics were taught across the College with contributions from Geography, Science, Maths and French to name a few. They had to communicate their findings to the wider school community and create an eco-code – the decoration of which will form part of a House competition in the new academic year and be displayed in all form and teaching rooms.
Comments from the judging panel:
“It is evident that young people in your school are aware of environmental issues and passionate about protecting our planet – your large Eco-Committee, totalling 18 members, clearly demonstrates this. Thank you for sharing your meeting minutes with the Eco-Schools’ Team. They really helped to provide an insight into your Eco-Schools’ work, and the dynamics of your pupil-led Eco-Committee!”….. “! We love your collaborative approach to creating an Eco-Code, this approach has allowed young people to take ownership and create a final code that will be treasured by everyone at your school! Thank you so much for submitting such a terrific application. We have loved reading about your journey and are incredibly impressed by all you have achieved. We have no hesitation in awarding you an Eco-Schools Green Flag, congratulations!”
The Eco-Committee and Dr West are proud of their achievements this year but consider this to be the start of the journey and definitely not the end.
They have chosen priorities to focus on next academic year:
• Investigating ways to reduce our energy consumption
• Looking at strategies to improve the air quality of the school site.
The committee have already become part of a wider Reading-based CALM (Clean Air Living Matters) project which is focused on investigating urban air quality and they will report their findings and ideas in the new academic year.
