Members of the Envioronmental Action Group enjoyed a visit to the Gweek Seal Sanctuary and a trip around the St Ives bay on Saturday 8th October followed by a visit to the Eden Project in St. Austell on Sunday 9th October.  

King Edward’s School celebrated Green Britain Day on 18 May, 2011 by sharing 5 ideas on how to become a greener School.

Here are 5 simple ideas which most Schools could use towards being greener:-

Grow green
King Edward’s catering department use locally sourced food, wherever possible, to prepare dishes for lunch. To reduce the amount of meat consumed each week pupils voted to have one day a week meat free. ‘Vegetarian Tuesday’ now gives a choice of two vegetarian dishes, a choice of mixed salads or sandwiches.

Learning about where food comes from starts young at King Edward’s. Children at the Pre-Prep children grow vegetables in their own garden which are then used by the cook for lunch. At the Junior School pupils can join Gardening club and learn more about growing and looking after plants. The attractive planters outside the school entrance are all the work of the Junior School Garden Club members. At the Senior School a School orchard has been created and there are plans being drawn up for greening other areas around the School.

Create a garden
A member of staff, Steve Haan, has transformed a courtyard into a haven of green tranquillity with plants and containers donated by members of staff. It is a beautiful tiny garden which shows how easy it is to achieve a green space with a little bit of imagination. 

Recycling
Recycling is now part of the School routine. King Edward’s not only recycles cardboard and paper but there is a box for compostable food waste in the dining hall, which gets added to the compost bin after lunch each day. Sharing is another great way to go green. When staff have finished reading a book they can add it to the Book swap box in return for another.

Travel
Pupils and staff are encouraged to travel to and from School by bike, public transport or on foot where possible. A Travel Guide contains details of all the local bus and trains from Bath and the surrounding area which pupils can use to plan their journey to School. There are spaces for bicycles on site and the Cycle to Work Scheme has been adopted to encourage staff to cycle. Children at the Junior School are encouraged to improve their cycling skills and learn how to use the roads safely by taking the Bikeability course which runs each year for Year 6.

Personal action
To be truly green everyone needs to do their bit. The Eco Schools team have been instrumental in encouraging the School community to go green through personal action. Signs, posters, assemblies and emails have all been used to spread the green message. Pupils and staff are actively encouraged to turn off computers and lights when they are not being used.

Pupils at King Edward’s Senior School are helping to organise this year’s B&NES Youth Climate Summit with Resources Future.

The Youth Climate summit takes place at Bath University between the 29 -30 June, 2011 and will be covering a broad range of topics including global environmental, economic and social changes.  Speakers already signed up for this year’s event include Mark Lynas, Representative from UK Youth Climate Coalition, UK Youth Council and Members from Oxfam’s Youth Board.

The summit is designed to be a forum for young people and teachers across B&NES to express their opinions and ideas as well as to act as a springboard for working together on projects in future. 

The King Edward’s School pupils involved in the organisation of the summit include; Tom Youngman (Year 12), Rachel Hannah (Year 12) and Mimi Trevelyan-Davis (Year 10). They are all members of King Edward’s Eco School’s team, which co-ordinates environmental improvements at the School, and members of Green Vision, a network of school environmental groups in Bath and North East Somerset who meet to share ideas and best practice.

There are already seven school s signed up for the B&NES Youth Climate Summit, for further information or to book a place please contact Jamie Colston from Resource Futures on Email: Jamie.colston@resourcefutures.co.uk

The Eco group at King Edward’s Senior School were delighted to welcome Sean Hill, Recycling Manager at Geneco, to talk to pupils about the Bio-Bug, a car that runs on methane gas, on Tuesday 15^th February.

Sean’s fascinating talk to over sixty pupils, explained how the Bio-Bug vehicle uses methane gas, generated during the sewage treatment process, to power the car. Waste water flushed from just 70 homes is sufficient to power the Bio-Bug for a year, based on an annual mileage of 10,000 miles. Although powered by biogas the car performs just like a conventional car.

Geneco, a Wessex Water company, have been producing biogas from sewage sludge for many years which is currently used to generate electricity. The Bio Bug shows how bio methane could also be used to fuel cars.

In Sweden, more than 11,500 vehicles already run on bio methane, produced from sewage plants, but it has yet to take off in the UK. With the launch of the Bio-Bug, Geneco, hopes to demonstrate how bio methane can be used as an alternative fuel for cars.