12 July 2011 Forget the gold rush, now its time for the green rush
The green agenda seems to dominate the press these days with energy efficiency at the top of the political agenda so its hardly surprising that independent schools are no different with sustainability and conservation featuring prominently both inside and outside the classroom.
The examinations boards have even started to include conservation topics as part of the biology curriculum and green energy examples as part of the maths and physics papers. Green initiatives arent just dominating exam papers with schools now encouraging green after school clubs, conservation expeditions, as well as guest speakers to come into schools and address pupils on sustainability and environmental issues.
Kings College, Taunton, is one such school at the forefront of this green revolution with students, teachers and non-teaching staff all coming together as part of a wider initiative to educate each other on sustainability. The scheme has proved so popular that it has become an integral part of the schools ethos prompting waste and recycling initiatives including an anti-food waste program encouraging the school community to Take what you Eat and Eat What You Take.
The schools chaplains, along with students, have begun to grow organic vegetables in raised flower beds in the school grounds and they have even taken in some ex-battery chickens!
Kings College, like many independent schools in the UK, has luscious grounds with the space needed to house various biodiversity projects. In conjunction with the Biology department and the importance placed on biodiversity in the curriculum the school has allocated an area of GRANIK an area where the grass is allowed to grow longer to encourage a wider variety of animals and plants.
Schools all over the UK have begun to invest time and money into green projects and its only a matter of time before they reap the rewards of the hard work of students and teachers alike. For the full news article and to be taken to the website, click here |
