Eco Royal Warriors

Eco Schools is a global movement promoting action on sustainability and environmental learning, with projects led by pupils. It involves a 7-step framework culminating in applying for their Green Flag Award, an internationally recognised accreditation.

We launched the Eco School’s drive in October 2023 with an assembly to encourage years 4-6 to apply to become a member of ERA’s founding Eco Committee.

This led to a number of applications in the form of posters, presentations, and letters which were evaluated by Ms Stubbs. Seven children were chosen to become our very first Eco Council and you can read some of their thoughts in the section at the bottom of this page.

How it began...

At our first meeting on 8^th November we named the committee Eco Royal Warriors and 2 of us went on to create logo designs, which were turned into graphics.

We completed environmental reviews over December, which included 10 questionnaires ranging from Biodiversity, Energy, Water, Litter etc. looking at what the school is already doing.

They contained lots of ideas that were totally new to us and we were all quite shocked by the very low scores on each topic!

On 5^th February 2024 we got together for a brainstorming meeting to discuss the environmental reviews and look at what interested us most.

We decided on our 3 chosen projects:

To create a nature and wildlife reserve or areas in the school grounds.
To improve recycling throughout the school.

To reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill by improving composting.

How it's going...

We prepared the ground and sowed wildflower seeds in the pollinator patch which is now thriving. We have loved to watch it grow and how much the bees love it. Children have enjoyed identifying the different flowers which continue to change over time as the meadow grows.
The bug hotel in the science garden was restocked by Squirrel’s Monday Gardening Club, although it was reported that some baby rabbits also took up residence there!
Everyone in the school has sown a sunflower seed to be planted in the school grounds - once they’re big enough! And so did the gardening club to take home.
Emptying food waste at lunchtimes is now separated into compostable, recyclable and the black bin. Over the past 4 months, we have taken turns emptying the compost caddy into the compost bin every day and covered it with garden waste donated by parents.
New bins in the playground and staff room also collect compostable food waste for our composting bin.
Over 3 weeks, our 25litre bin for compostable food waste was filled up at least 4 and half times, so that’s at least 112.5 litres composted every 3 weeks.

So over a school year 58.5 full bins of food waste will be composted, that’s 1462.5 litres of food waste not being wasted! We also estimate from our measurements, that we will save at least 10 full bin bags of school lunch packaging waste from the bin every school year so that it’s recycled instead.
We recently did a litter pick of the playground revealing that most of this is ‘soft plastic’ packaging and paper towels. This is now being collected to be recycled, and the paper towels are composted; and other children are now joining in with litter picking!
Assemblies have been held on the reasons for and importance of composting, recycling, plastic pollution, bees and pollinators; to encourage the whole school to get inspired and actively involved.
Teachers have agreed to set up classroom recycling monitors to make sure the bins are used correctly to maximise recycling; and 2 of us created posters to promote recycling.
We did a presentation to Governor’s in May, the first ever children’s presentation to Governors! And one of them subsequently donated a bug hotel.
We have created an Eco-Board – just outside the hall – have a look!
The Bee Friendly Trust donated some plants and pollinator colouring books.
Whitehall Garden Centre donated the compost for the sunflowers.
And we want to thank FERS hugely for supporting us by kindly funding the compost collection bins and seeds.

It has been an adventure for us all and we have evolved as Eco Royal Warriors… We feel proud to have been able to suggest ideas to make our school a more eco-friendly community.

We are so happy with the pollinator garden and the bug hotels and hope all our fellow students are now more aware of the value of nature, bugs and bees.

We are so impressed by how younger children have taken to the composting and recycling.

We feel proud to know that we have made a difference for many more generations to come. And we hope to inspire everyone for the future!

Curriculum Development

We have even had an impact on what they teach us at school. After our teachers and Principal became excited about our project, they added some units of learning to our curriculum:

1. A new section of our Science unit on plants, which teaches us about pollinators and why they are important.

2. A 6 week unit of learning in Geography called 'climate change'.

3. Further Science units on plastic, caring for the planet, biodiversity and food waste.

Luca wrote and read this poem in assembly and at lunchtime to inspire everyone:

Did you know a magic place,

To throw away some of your waste?

Recycling and composting bins

Make your rubbish start again!

Recycling is so fun,

And easy as can be.

It helps save the environment

And you and me!

So paper, glass and plastic

Don’t throw it away,

It can be used again someday.

Fruit, veg. and eggshells

Go to a special place,

It’s called a compost bin,

Then they become fertile soil

To grow our food again!

Easton Royal Warriors 2023 - 2024

Evie Y6

The reason I wanted to be part of the eco committee was because I want our school to tread more lightly on the earth and reduce the amount of waste we create each year. Its important to me because I want to play my part in helping the planet.

Luca Y6

The reason I joined the eco committee is because making a difference to wildlife has always been a part of me.

Thomas Y5

I joined the eco committee because I love animals and I feel that animals are mistreated like wasps - they are pollinators, they sting when they are angry or scared and they live in hives so they are exactly like bees but are still mistreated.

Fred Y4

I am in the eco committee because I care about the planet especially all of the endangered species.

The second column.