This week a team of students, ranging from Years 8 to 13 along with the help of Geography teacher Miss Underwood have ran an Environment Week. Across the week there have been assemblies, tutor time activities, competitions and games in order to raise awareness of recycling in school.

The problems associated with the mass of plastic pollution in our society have been well documented recently. This has created significant momentum to reduce our plastic output in order to preserve the future of our environment. Plastic pollution has already had a devastating effect on our ecosystems, in particular our oceans; the extent of which near irreconcilable problems have arisen. This is emphasised by 1 million marine animals being killed every year due to the 100 million tonnes of plastic in our oceans. As well as that, plastic makes up 90 percent of all garbage floating on the ocean's surface, with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile.

Having seen the scale to which the issue has now grown, we, as a school council, decided to investigate what the situation was like in our own school and assess what improvements we could make to become more eco-friendly. After conducting research in and around school about its approach to recycling, by garnering opinion through surveys, we decided that action needed to be taken to make several improvements. The aim is to positively change the mindsets of our students around the importance of recycling properly. Moreover, to inform them on the positive effects that doing this could have on not just school but across wider society.

In order to create as much momentum around our message as possible in this dedicated week, we devised a broad rang-ing plan encompassing clubs, competitions, tutor time activities, games, pledges and an assembly. We partnered with Art Club to give students the opportunity to create a sculpture out of recyclable plastics to serve as a reminder to students to be more environmentally friendly in their actions. The final product certainly didn’t disappoint please see picture. As well as that, we set up a competition to give students the opportunity to design a poster to go on the recycling bins around school. Additionally, all students are going to be making a pledge to become more eco-aware. These pledges will be ultimately collated to go on a prominent display. Lastly, the focal point of our plan was our assembly, which gave students an insight into the present environmental problems that exist in our society, as well as informing them on how they can play an active role in shaping and improving our own immediate environment.

Having started preparation for this week four months ago, it was great for all those involved to see the project finally come into fruition in such a successful way. Special mentions go to the Art Department and in particular Miss Chan. The assembly team: Amy, Izzy, Laura, Abi, Lukas, Suli, Flora, Lola, Evie and Edie (All Year 8), Grace (Year 9), Savannah, Elliot and Alex (Year 13). As well, Mrs White, Marc the IT technician, Mr Fleming and Miss Harris. Finally a specific thank you to Miss Underwood without whom, the week wouldn’t not have been as successful as has been proven.

When reflecting on the week, a quote from the assembly stands out, “together, as a school, we will be able to make a big difference without even knowing it,”. Hopefully what will come out of this week is students taking responsibility in doing their bit to help protect the planet by becoming more eco-conscious and encouraging others to be as well.