Environmental work

As a Trust, one of our targets for the near future is to devise a net zero strategy; we are developing a trust wide plan that pulls together a wide range of net zero and sustainability activity which has already included making changes to our energy procurement, our waste contracts, our catering contracts, and our ICT strategy.

We have developed a Trust Pupil Council, which is a group of 32 children, made up from two representatives from each of our schools, working together as one team to make environmental improvements across our trust.

The Trust Council are an extremely passionate group of students who meet every half term, there is a new topic and challenge to discuss at each meeting; an overview of our plans and the minutes of our previous meetings are available below. The school representatives feedback to their own school councils and eco councils within their schools.

During their first year, the trust council have already made some significant improvements; the focus last year was on reducing the energy usage and increasing and monitoring the amount of recycling that is happening in all our schools – both have these projects have been very successful. In July this year, we held our own Eco Summit where we made 8 pledges for the coming school year; these pledges will encourage and enable our schools to save water, reduce the amount of plastic we are using, reduce the amount of clothing we are wasting by introducing ‘swap shops’, agreeing a climate friendly menu change for school meals, which will include ‘wonky fruit and vegetables’, reduce the number of cars on the roads during school times by encouraging walking and bike riding, whilst continuing to monitor energy usage and promoting recycling. We will be holding our first meeting next week and the first challenge is to encourage all pupils in our schools to bring refillable water bottles to school to enable us to reduce plastic waste.

Crofty Education Trust Eco Summit 2023

On Thursday 6^th July, Crofty Education Trust held their first Eco Summit. The aim of the summit was for the members of the Trust Council, from all 16 schools to gather for the day to take part in workshops about different environmental issues and to decide upon eight separate environmental pledges to work towards as a trust over the next academic year.

The day was a very big success, local businesses attended and provided workshops around renewable energy technology, smart meter technology, sustainable food, and sustainable transport. The pupils made eight pledges that we will work on over the next academic year.

• The water Wizards – We pledge to use reusable water bottles to drink from in school.
• The Fashion Fixers – We pledge to set up a school uniform swap shop, donating back our old uniform to smaller pupils for free.
• The Veggie Vindicators – We pledge to hold a meeting with our school caterers and agree a menu change to help reduce the impact on the climate.
• The Fume Fighters – We pledge to do a whole school challenge to walk, scoot or bike to school, reducing the use of cars.
• The Truth Talkers – We pledge to have a monthly update in assemblies and on the school’s newsletter with the schools climate achievements.
• The Energy Experts – We pledge to reduce our energy consumption for the school using our smart technology to monitor.
• The Green Guides – We pledge to work with our school cooking team to raise awareness of wonky fruit and vegetables.
• The Recycle Rangers – We pledge to make sure that the schools have recycling bins and that we are reducing out general waste to landfill.

We have already started planning our 2024 Eco Summit where we will welcome guest speakers, the pupils will engage in various workshops and awards will be presented to the schools who have made the biggest impact on the pledges.