Making a Difference!

Our school council are named the Heartwood Heroes as they work hard to Make a Difference to Heartwood Primary and our surrounding community. 

We have two school council representatives from each of the KS1 and KS2 classes, which meet half termly, with Mrs Butters who leads the Heartwood Heroes and is the Eco co-ordinator.

The Heartwood Heroes have worked hard towards the Eco-School award to make sure we are reducing our impact on the environment and that we individually and collectively make a difference. 
 

The Eco-Schools programme provides a unique opportunity that empowers pupils to lead change within their school and have a positive impact in their wider community. The programme encourages pupils of all ages and abilities to work together to develop their knowledge and environmental awareness. Independent research into the Eco-Schools programme in England found evidence of the positive impacts on pupils, including increased confidence, development of leaderships skills, improved pupil well-being and behaviour and greater motivation at school.

Keep re-visiting this page to see what the Heartwood Heroes have been up to and the impact they are having. 

The children in each class present why they would be the best candidate for the Heartwood Heroes. The class then vote for their representative to join the team. 

Eco-schools Autumn 2024

Our Heartwood Heroes held there first Eco-Committee meeting this week, where we completed our environmental review to understand how eco-friendly our school is and where we can improve. We covered ten topics; Biodiversity, Energy, Global Citizenship, Healthy Living, Litter, Marine, School Grounds, Transport, Waste and Water, calculating a score for each topic. Our Heartwood Heroes shared some brilliant ideas and suggestions including; 'Advice for families on supporting biodiversity at home', 'Update posters in classrooms about turning off electrical devices, 'Raise money for environmental, wildlife or animal welfare charities', 'Write to our local MP about a zebra crossing and speed limit outside the school', 'Contact other schools in other countries', 'Buy more litter picking equipment', 'Plant more trees', 'Water saving tips for our parents' and 'Complete a walk to school week'

The Heartwood Heroes have been inspired by our findings so will now design and deliver an action plan of Eco Projects to be completed throughout the school year, reducing our carbon footprint and making our school greener and a cleaner place for everyone.

Throughout November we took part in 'Cut Your Carbon'. This campaign encouraged young people and their families to complete six simple actions to raise awareness and reduce your carbon footprint in their home environment. Thank you to each and every family who took part, we have submitted our data and been entered into a prize draw! The Heartwood Heroes are very keen to continue to raise awareness of environmental issues to families, so keep your eyes peeled for their monthly update and top tips in the monthly newsletter. 

We have also been busy as a whole school planting over three hundred saplings, kindly donated by the woodland trust. Did you know that one tonne of carbon dioxide is removed by one tree over it's life time.  

Our Heartwood Heroes have written an Action Plan, choosing three topics to focus on; Transport, Litter and Global Citizenship. These three topics where choose from completing our Environmental Review.  

Protecting our planet takes collaboration, and we will raise awareness, including in our school and the local community, truly making a difference!

Earth Day

This year at Heartwood we celebrated Earth Day which is an annual event to demonstrate our commitment for environmental protection. This year we focused on Planet vs Plastics, setting up our own recycling station for empty crisp packets, showing our support of a 60% reduction of plastic production by 2040. 

Heartwood took an Earth Day Pledge to make everyday an earth day by doing the following:

• I promise to do my part to take care of the earth by picking up litter when I see it
• I promise to reduce, reuse and recycle
• I promise to help care for growing things like trees and flowers
• I promise to encourage my families members, friends and staff to learn about ways to get involved and take action by taking care of our community 

Look at all our previous Eco-Schools achievements...

We have certainly made our school environment more sustainable, increased environmental learning and awareness which has benefited our local community.