Newcastle High School for Girls (NHSG) pupils took part in a focused week of activities to promote sustainability and biodiversity.
The school’s fourth annual ‘A Touch of Green Week’ – a sustainability initiative encouraging environmental responsibility and pupil wellbeing – took place between Monday 19th and Friday 23rd May.
Building on the school’s ongoing commitment to responsible practice, the initiative has already seen a positive effect in terms of food waste recycling.
Emma Waton, Head of Science and Biology at NHSG said: “We’ve been gathering food waste figures for the last few years to see how we’re doing and it’s really satisfying to see a significant shift and reduction in waste. We’re now regularly sending less food to landfill and seeing more of it being eaten by our worms in the school wormery – where food is turned into compost. The Touch of Green Week celebrates these ongoing achievements as well as creating a whole host of new activities for pupils to take part in and learn about the many ways we can reduce our impact on the environment.”
What’s been happening?
The jam-packed programme continued to highlight some of NHSG’s year-round environmental initiatives, such as its sustainable food menu and school wormery, while delivering specific activities for all pupils – and parents – to take part in.
The School’s sustainable food menu featured daily ‘deliciously recycled’ dishes made using surplus and leftover ingredients, encouraging the reduction of food waste as well as creativity in the kitchen. The School’s menu also spotlights selected sustainable options including plant-based ingredients and the progress made in combating food waste is displayed each week.
Meanwhile, the School Wormery was happily turning food waste into nutrient-rich compost and liquid fertiliser.
NHSG Junior School also hosted its first BioBlitz Event in partnership with the Natural History Society of Northumbria to measure diversity across its extensive grounds. This saw Junior School pupils collecting data and taking part in vital scientific research.
Pupils also took part in a litter pick, collecting a total of 21.13kg of rubbish from the Jesmond area in just 15 minutes.
Over at NHSG’s Senior School, three pupils were selected to work with the prestigious University College London as part of a pupil panel to lend their voices on sustainability education.
The week also saw pupils and parents taking part in a bat walk (Thursday 22nd May, moth trapping and observation, a dawn chorus walk, bug identification and pond dipping. With the week coinciding with the national ‘Walk to School Week’ pupils were also encouraged to walk to and from school where possible and to carry out an ‘Act of Green’ to earn a Green Badge and make a Green Pledge for the future.
To find out more about Newcastle High School for Girls visit newcastlehigh.gdst.net
