On Monday lunchtime a large party of visitors descended upon us and were given a tour of the school and grounds by our pupils. Amongst them was Stephen Morgan who is the Under-Secretary of State for Education, Simon Opher, MP for Stroud, as well as representatives from the Department of Education and Ecotricity. Why on earth- you may well ask!
Our school worked on an Eco-curriculum with Paul Turner, a Geographer employed by Ecotricity, a few years ago now. The Ministry for Eco-education that grew out of this partnership has gone on to influence education in sustainability across the UK, providing training and events for over 4000 teachers and visiting over 250 schools. Minchinhampton remains a key player in work done to promote the organisation- see the Eco-activism page on our website devoted to this. The MEE team (Paul and three Regional Coordinators) are currently working with between 5-10 schools each (total 40 schools) to support in-depth curriculum change, as was done at Minchinhampton.
The Compassion for the World thread that runs through our curriculum is one of 4 key threads we are intent on delivering across the curriculum: the other 3 threads being Appreciation of Difference, Awe and Wonder and A Sense of Belonging. For a better understanding of why we have chosen these threads, please see the Vision Report on the website. Also, please look at the Curriculum Threads display outside the Head teacher’s office.
Our pupils did a wonderful job showing around this large adult group. They talked about where they engage with sustainability in lots of their subjects, including through high profile projects like the Sustainable Fashion Show. They also shared where the school environment has been/ is being developed to support this work, the most recent example being our vegetable patch.
N Moss
Last week, we had some visitors come in for a tour, including Stephen Morgan who is the Under Secretary for State for Education; Simon Opher, MP for Stroud, as well as representatives from the Department of Education and Ecotricity.
At Minchinhampton, we try to be sustainable and we are well aware of the climate crisis. We do our very best to help the environment. We have solar panels, kindly funded by the people of Minchinhampton. We have a pond, a wild area and soon we will have a vegetable patch. We use recycled rubbish from our Scrap Store to play with at lunchtime. Our caterers, The Great Plate, use locally sourced produce.
Each year classes learn about the environment through their work in other subjects. We learn about plastic in the oceans as well as studying artists like Andy Goldsworthy. We make bird boxes, wabbits and model houses designed to withstand a flood in our DT. Last year Year 6 held a sustainable fashion show. It was a real hit and we hope made a difference in our community. We used old unwanted clothes to make incredible outfits.
Another way we stay eco-friendly is with our bird hide- a very calm, quiet space where lots of birds like to stay and enjoy the peace and the bird food. Speaking of bird food, we’d love it and appreciate if you could make some lard and birdseed balls for them to eat and enjoy- it’s just a mixture of lard and bird seed mixed together and shaped into a ball. It’s so incredibly easy to make! Please hand them into the school office and they will pass them to us, Emily and Lyra, to put up in the trees.
The visit was a success. The people who came seemed very pleased with how our school stays environmentally friendly. They were very nice and interesting to talk to. First Mr Moss told them about our curriculum threads and how our eco curriculum links to everything we do in learning .Then we students took them on a tour of the grounds showing them everything that we do to be good for the environment, such as our newly refurbished bird hide and our vegetable patch that is currently being built.
To sum everything up, these past few weeks have been very successful for Minch, and hopefully we will continue being eco and sustainable for many years to come.
Lyra and Emily
