Ongoing hard work to help save the planet has earned pupils at a Palm Bay school an international accreditation from the Eco Schools Programme and a Green School Award!
The amazing work of students at Palm Bay Primary School in Margate in making their school more environmentally friendly and raising eco awareness in fellow pupils, has continued to be recognised by the Eco Schools programme which has given it a Green Flag award with distinction. This is an internationally recognised symbol of high environmental standards and Palm Bay has held this accreditation for the last 4 years.
To earn the honour pupils at Palm Bay needed to form an eco-committee, then collaborated with their teacher, Mrs Page, to conduct an environmental review. They reviewed everything from biodiversity within their school grounds to how pupils and staff members travel to school; from how waste is managed to the school dinner menu.
Using what they found out, the eco-committee (or ‘Green Team’) assisted by Mrs Page then planned a year of action designed to advance their school’s green credentials, improve their local environment, and help to protect the planet.
The committee connected their work to three of the ten eco-schools topics: energy, litter and waste. They planned a variety of projects including going around the school at lunchtime to make sure the lights and interactive whiteboards were switched off to save energy and joining community groups on litter picks in the area.
They made sure their message was shared and all the school was involved by leading school assemblies, sharing their progress and introducing new initiatives.
One initiative introduced in the summer term of 2022 which has continued in the school is the weekly eco-challenge. Each week the school community is set a small environmental challenge that each of them can easily carry out. Individually these challenges may not have much of an impact, but if each member of the school community takes part then they add up to make a big difference. This initiative was noticed by Social Enterprise Kent which recognised the Palm Bay community was making a real difference to the environment they live in, and awarded it a Green School Award.
This academic year the new Green Team plan to continue with all of the work already in place and encourage all the members of Palm Bay to do their bit to stay Green.