PROJECT
Why did you decide to undertake this project (i.e. Particular issue in school or part of a larger campaign) and what aims did you have starting out?
Our starting aims were:
To make use of an educational resource that had been created by students from the school to raise awareness of environmental issues in children at primary school age. The resource is a book called “the Adventures of Eco-Man” which promotes environmentally friendly themes in a way that is both accessible and relevant to young people.
To obtain funding to get the books printed
To design a way of using the book to educate primary school pupils to raise environmental awareness
To carry out the educational sessions
ACTION
How was the project delivered and was it integrated into the curriculum?
The book was originally written and illustrated by pupils who were taking part in the Young Enterprise scheme. It therefore involved aspects of English, art and business studies. It was clear that the book had applications for wider usage and so a bid was made for funding from HSBC who agreed to finance the production of more copies of the book so that it could be used in this project. The educational sessions will be carried out in primary schools and will require performance and communication skills to be used and these will be developed as an extra-curricular activity carried out by our 6th form eco-group.
CHALLENGES
Did you have to overcome any challenges to make the project succeed?
Raising the capital needed to print the books was the largest challenge. We identified funding which was available from HSBC for projects specifically dealing with a theme of “sustainability” and put in an application which was successful. This enabled us to do a larger scale project than we alone would have been able to fund.
Secondly we needed to get primary schools to agree to allow us to visit to carry out the work. We looked at which local schools were taking part in the Eco-Schools scheme to identify the ones that were also promoting environmentally friendly ideas and so might have an interest in this project. This proved a successful method of selection.
PUPIL LEADERSHIP
How did you get the children involved? How did they have ownership?
Pupils had ownership of the scheme because the book was written by them and aimed at young people in the way that the information was communicated. It looks at aspects of modern society relevant to children and how they could be more sustainable in their everyday life.
Additionally the educational sessions will be led by students rather than teachers. Although the teachers will help and advise them on options of what to do and how to carry this out successfully the onus will be on the pupils to devise and carry out the teaching of younger children. We feel that the project will have a greater impact both on the primary school children and also on the students carrying out the education work because of this.
RESULT
How have the children benefitted from the project and any other benefits for the school (reduced costs, cleaner school etc)? Please include any figures and analysis if appropriate.
At present only the students from this school have benefitted by taking part as we are still designing and planning the educational sessions and identifying publishers to print the books to carry the project out next year.
However, we have designed the project and have the funding to repeat the sessions at multiple schools with multiple cohorts of pupils. We have already identified 3 primary schools in the local area with whom to work and so we are planning to work with over 100 pupils when the project continues to the delivery stage next year. One of the benefits is that we can broaden this work to as many schools as are interested in hosting sessions and that we can repeat sessions in future years.
RESOURCES
Did you use any educational resources such as The Pod (If yes, indicate which activities), receive any support from parents, staff and outside agencies? Did you have to source funding for the project?
We received £1000 funding from an HSBC Sports and Sustainability grant.
We are currently investigating publishers to produce the book in an environmentally friendly and cost effective manner.
LESSONS LEARNED
What advice would you give to schools that want to follow in your footsteps?
Don’t be afraid to seek funding or sponsorship from outside agencies. Environmental issues are very topical at present with consumers becoming more concerned about sustainable products and services. Large organisations are eager to present themselves as supporting schemes to help the environment.
Use the talent in your school.
The Eco-Man books were entirely written and illustrated by pupils. This developed the interest of girls who have skills in different curriculum areas and encouraged more pupils to get involved.
NEXT STEPS
Has this project driven other Eco-Schools ideas and what is the school working on next?
At present we are working on designing and delivering this scheme, but we are eager to make the links with the primary schools as we feel that this is a way to share good practice between schools to identify future projects.
Sheffield High School, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S102PE
Posted: 18th May 2010
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