The Sussex School with the E Factor
At Holbrook Primary School, near Horsham, caring for the environment is not just a project, it is a way of life
For the past eight years the school has been consistently awarded an internationally recognised ‘Green Flag’ for its environmental actions and education.
To win the award children at the school have been working hard to maintain and understand the ten themes of Eco Schools: Global Citizenship, Marine Environment, Healthy Living , Energy, Transport, Waste, Water, Litter, School Grounds, and Biodiversity.
The school integrates all these themes into everyday school life. The children are taught about wider issues such as Fairtrade and the marine environment in school assemblies, and they learn about their own environmental impact through the school’s recycling, water conservation and green transport initiatives.
Holbrook has a team of Year 6 ‘spark spies’ who monitor energy use at lunchtimes and the school has its own conservation area and growing field where the children can learn about biodiversity and healthy eating.
‘We work hard to maintain our different environments providing a range of habitats and food sources for wildlife,’ explains Year 6 teacher, Harriet Mayo. ‘We have created brash heaps and bug hotels to provide over-wintering sites for invertebrates and small mammals and installed a bat box on one of our taller south-facing trees.’
‘Even during lockdown, we planted up our growing beds, picked up litter and dipped in the school pond discovering a large number of newts, frogs and ram’s horn snails.’
‘At a time when the climate crisis and mental health issues have been hitting the headlines, it is a natural step to engage children in caring for the natural world.’
Shule ya Sussex na E Factor: Shule ya Msingi ya Holbrook, karibu na Horsham, kutunza mazingira si mradi tu, ni njia ya maisha. Kwa mujibu wa taarifa ya Shirika la Elimu la Umoja wa Mataifa, watoto wa shule hiyo wamekuwa wakifanya kazi kwa bidii ili kudumisha na kuelewa mandhari kumi za shule za mazingira: uraia wa kimataifa, mazingira ya baharini, maisha yenye afya, nishati, usafiri, taka, maji, taka, uwanja wa shule na bioanuwai. Shule inachanganya mandhari hizi zote katika maisha ya kila siku ya shule. Watoto hufundishwa kuhusu masuala makubwa kama vile biashara ya haki na mazingira ya baharini katika mikutano ya shule, na wanajifunza juu ya athari zao za mazingira kupitia mipango ya shule ya kuchakata, uhifadhi wa maji na usafiri wa kijani. Holbrook ina timu ya Mwaka 6 'Spark spies' ambao kufuatilia matumizi ya nishati wakati wa chakula cha mchana na shule ina eneo lake mwenyewe uhifadhi na kukua shamba ambapo watoto wanaweza kujifunza kuhusu bioanuwai na kula afya. "Tunafanya kazi kwa bidii kudumisha mazingira yetu tofauti yanayotoa aina mbalimbali za makazi na vyanzo vya chakula kwa wanyama wa porini", anaelezea mwalimu wa Mwaka wa 6, Harriet Mayo. """Tumeunda makundi ya magugu na hoteli za wadudu ili kutoa maeneo ya majira ya baridi kali kwa wanyama wasio na uti wa mgongo na mamalia wadogo na kuweka sanduku la popo kwenye moja ya miti yetu mirefu inayoelekea kusini, hata wakati wa kufungwa, tulipanda vitanda vyetu vya kukua, tukakusanya taka na kuzamisha katika dimbwi la shule, tukigundua idadi kubwa ya nyigu, vyura na konokono wa pembe za kondoo."