We are proud to share that we have been successful in our bid for the Green Flag Eco-Schools Award, awarded for excellence in improving sustainability and environmental learning in our academy, and were awarded a Merit. This is something the Abbey Grange Sustainability team have been working towards for some time.
To begin with, the group completed the eco-schools environmental review and through this, recognised the areas we would focus on.This led to the creation of our action plan, which ensured we focused on whatwe wanted to change. This has given the students a platform on how to improve in all areas at school and take a leading role in the Academy becomingnet-zero.
A big focus for our team has been the development of the allotment. After securing £250 funding from Caterlink, who run the Abbey Grange kitchen, and £1000 from the PTA to replace the shed and greenhouse, our team have been working hard to make the allotment an area we can be proud of. Whilst we don’t have the capacity to feed the school, the team wants to make the allotment a space that students can go to learn about growing their own food and embrace the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Responsible Consumption &Responsible Waste Management). The DT Food department is eager to take classes to the allotment to encourage our students to grow food at home. The Abbey Grange site team also help out by ensuring any waste produced from the canteen is taken to the allotment and placed in the compost bins.
As part of the Eco-schools bid, we have also committed to making the site more eco-friendly. We are in the process of creating a bee corridor, in addition to making several wildlife homes and putting up birdfeeders.
Although we have been given the award already, this is just the start of the journey. The team already has big plans for next year, so watch this space.
You can read more about the Eco Schools Award and the great work they do to encourage sustainability in education: https://www.eco-schools.org.uk/about/what-is-eco-schools/
