Sustainability Squad – Eco-Schools
Our Sustainability Squad is helping to make Llanedeyrn Primary a greener, more sustainable school. We are taking part in the Eco-Schools programme and are currently working towards the Eco-Schools Bronze Award.
Our Eco Vision
Our vision is to make our school as sustainable as possible. We want everyone to look after our environment and work together to help our planet. Small actions can make a big difference, and we want to do our part to tackle climate change.
Our Sustainability Squad helps to turn this vision into everyday actions that everyone in school can take part in.
Meet the Sustainability Squad
The Sustainability Squad is our Eco-Committee. It includes pupils from different year groups, alongside staff who help to coordinate activities.
- Meeting regularly to talk about how to make our school more sustainable.
- Bringing ideas from classmates and giving pupils a strong voice.
- Helping to run projects and challenges, such as our energy-saving work.
- Sharing messages in assemblies and around the school.
Having a pupil-led Eco-Committee is one of the key steps in the Eco-Schools programme.
Our Eco-Schools Journey So Far
Environmental reviews
Pupils began by carrying out an Environmental Review of our school. Using Eco-Schools review tools, including a simple picture-based version for younger learners, we explored questions such as:
- Are lights, screens and devices turned off when they are not needed?
- Do we recycle and reduce waste in classrooms and shared areas?
- How are we using water, both indoors and outdoors?
- What are our school grounds like for plants and wildlife?
- How do pupils usually travel to school?
This helped us to celebrate what we are already doing well and spot areas where we can improve. The Sustainability Squad will keep using these reviews to see how things change over time.
Choosing our first focus: Energy
From our reviews, the Squad decided to start by focusing on Energy. Saving energy helps to lower our carbon footprint and reduces costs for the school.
Some of our early actions include:
- Talking in class about where our energy comes from and why it matters.
- Noticing and recording when lights, whiteboards and computers are left on in empty rooms.
- Designing simple reminder posters to help everyone remember to switch off.
Energy will be the first topic in our Eco-Schools Action Plan as we work towards the Bronze Award.
10 Day Turn Down energy challenge
To support our Energy work, we are taking part in the 10 Day Turn Down challenge. This is a two-week, Cardiff-wide competition where schools see how much they can reduce their electricity use.
At Llanedeyrn, we are:
- Encouraging every class to cut their electricity use over ten school days.
- Asking pupils to be “energy detectives”, checking lights, screens and equipment.
- Linking the challenge to learning in Maths, Science and Humanities.
Once we receive the results of the challenge, we will share how our school has done and decide on our next energy-saving steps.
The Eco-Schools Seven Steps
Eco-Schools follows seven steps that help schools build a whole-school approach to sustainability. These are:
Our Sustainability Squad, with pupils leading the work.
Checking how eco-friendly our school is.
Choosing and planning our projects, starting with Energy.
Connecting our eco work to the Curriculum for Wales.
Sharing our ideas with families and the community.
Measuring the impact of our actions.
Creating a simple promise that shows how we look after our planet.
We are concentrating on steps 1, 2 and 3 as we work towards our Bronze Award, while beginning to build the other steps into everyday school life.
Eco-Schools and our curriculum
Eco-Schools supports the Curriculum for Wales and helps us develop ethical, informed citizens who understand their impact on the world. Through our Sustainability Squad work, pupils:
- Learn about climate change, energy and how to care for our environment.
- Develop skills in inquiry, data handling and problem solving.
- Work together, listen to different viewpoints and take responsible action.
Teachers look for natural opportunities to link Eco-Schools projects to learning across all Areas of Learning and Experience.
How families can get involved
- Talk to your child about the Sustainability Squad and the projects they are involved in.
- Try simple energy-saving habits at home, such as switching off lights and unplugging devices.
- Walk, scoot or cycle to school where possible.
- Look out for Eco-Schools news in our newsletters, Class Dojo and on this website.
- Support any future campaigns, such as recycling drives or outdoor planting days.
What’s next for our Sustainability Squad?
Over the coming months, our Sustainability Squad will use the Environmental Review to write a clear Action Plan with pupil-friendly targets. We will continue to focus on Energy and will start to explore other topics such as waste, school grounds and transport, using pupil ideas to guide our choices.
As we collect evidence of our work, we will be ready to apply for the Eco-Schools Bronze Award. This page will be updated with our latest projects and celebrations as our journey continues.