Moved this year to coincide with COP and to set an earlier sustainable agenda for the rest of the year, Eco Week has been the culmination of a lot of work for the Sustainability Council and I would like to start by thanking them for all their hard work and dedication at such a busy time of year.
Lucy and her team started Eco Week a fortnight ago, actually, delivering PSHE lectures to the Fourth and Lower Fifth year groups. It is no mean feat for 17-year-olds to deliver a speech to 150 15-year-olds so they should be incredibly proud of their achievements.
Monday saw the first ever Cranleigh Green Dragons award that has been developed by myself and Mr Edwards over the past term and saw 8 intrepid teams present their sustainable ideas to three ‘dragons’ from the sustainable business world: Ben Macallan is the founder of Zero Carbon Guildford as well as working for Surrey County Council as a sustainability lead; Gareth Williams is Project Manager on the ‘Weald to Waves’ initiative at the Knepp Foundation and our very own Mrs Ambrose, Head of Futures, and previous business and charity entrepreneur. Our mix of Upper and Lower Sixth teams presented on their ideas – from sustainable smoothies, to eco-friendly car cleaning products, to resign festival tents, to community, second-hand clothes initiatives, to a Christmas focussed re-use project, to fixing dynamos to shopping trolleys, to a sustainable paddleball consultancy, to an app for facilitating product redistribution in the agriculture industry (the eventual winner), Cranleighans demonstrated problem-solving, creativity, an eye for detail, ahead for business and a heart for sustainability. It was an incredibly inspiring evening and one we hope can grow further next year. Congratulations to Alex, Jamie, Rafe and Paddy for their fantastic idea – Ecoco.
Tuesday saw Lucy & Tiana lead the whole school Eco-Assembly, which focussed largely on our new bins. These, if used properly, will allow us to significantly reduce our plastic waste. Our student waste targets for the year are:
- MAKE LESS WASTE OVERALL THAN LAST YEAR BY 10% AT LEAST.
- REDUCE OUR FOOD WASTE BY 25%.
- REDUCE OUR RECOVERED WEIGHT BY 25% TO LESS THAN 10% OF TOTAL WASTE.
Making less waste in the first place is at the forefront of any good waste strategy and we would urge pupils to adopt these targets wholeheartedly. To help with this, we played a fun game called “What’s in Mr Boggitt’s Bin?” where staff and students had to guess which is the right bin for a variety of waste ‘discovered’ in Mr Boggitt’s bin! It was a fun way of hopefully clearly showing the importance of correct recycling practices. Thank you to Mrs Price and SMT for being such good sports.
Wednesday saw a fantastic debate on whether meat should be rationed. Lower Sixth Politics students debated with skill, knowledge and impressive rhetoric on this complex issue and split the house with their well-researched ideas. What was really pleasing was the commitment on both sides to explore the big issues here in a respectful and thoughtful manner, rather than getting bogged down in the ‘nitty-gritty’. A huge thanks to Mr Vaiani for hosting and Tiana for organising.
Finally, Thursday evening saw the Sustainable Careers Seminar where six amazing parents gave up their time to talk to Upper and Lower Sixth students about their careers that both help the planet and deliver a strong, profitable career. We had illuminating discussion from parents in sustainable investment, entrepreneurship, power and infrastructure, consultancy, trend-tracking, aviation, electrification of car networks to charities aiming to solve the world’s most complex issues. It was a truly inspiring evening and we are so lucky to have such a fantastic ‘resource’ of our wonderful parents. Students listened intently and then asked thoughtful and searching questions before taking the opportunity to speak to these inspiring business leaders in person. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the speakers again and also the many,many other parents that offered and we just didn’t have time for. It is a testament to the strength of our community that we had so many offers and I hope we can use more of you in the future.
A massive thank you to all of my fabulous Sixth Form team for their hard work, to all staff who have ‘green seasoned’ their lessons and helped out, to Lillie for her photography late into the evenings all week, to pupils who have come to events and to the staff from IT, Catering and Facilities who have helped set up events and make everything happen.
Mr Phil Leamon
