What is ECO Schools?

Eco Schools is a simple seven-step framework which empowers young people to make a difference in their school, local community and beyond.

As we step into a new academic year, our school has embarked on an exciting journey towards achieving the prestigious ECO Schools Award. This initiative not only highlights our commitment to environmental sustainability but also sets a powerful example for our students and the wider community.

Meet our ECO Team!

Mrs Martin is leading our school into the achievement of the Eco Schools Award. Our School Representatives are;

Reception Class

Hannah & Ella-May

Year One

Myles & Theo

Year Two

Katie & Orla & Peter

Join Us in The Great Big School Clean: A Litter Pick for a Greener Future!

As stewards of our environment, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and make a difference! We are thrilled to announce that our school will be participating in The Great Big School Clean, a nationwide litter pick event aimed at cleaning up our communities and promoting environmental awareness. 🌍

What is The Great Big School Clean?

The Great Big School Clean is an initiative that encourages schools across the country to come together and tackle litter in their local areas. This event is not just about picking up rubbish; it's about fostering a sense of responsibility, community, and environmental stewardship among students, staff, and families.

This year, we will be joining thousands of other schools to create a cleaner, greener environment for everyone. From parks to playgrounds, we will be cleaning up our neighborhoods and sending a powerful message about the importance of caring for our planet.

Our ECO Team have been delivering posters to local business owners in the community to advertise The Great Big School Clean.

Meet Eddie The Eco bear!

Eddie is our eco mascot and likes to help us out at assemblies and events.

Litter Pick

Our children had great fun taking part in the Great Big School Clean. We love the community we live in and want to do all we can to help make it a clean and safe environment. Each class went out on a different day and we collected around 30 bags of litter! Big thank you to Stanley Town Council for the loan of the litter picking equipment and to all the wonderful parents and carers who volunteered to help.

We have also purchased some litter pickers of our own and are hoping to appoint litter monitors to keep our school grounds tidy.

New Homes for Birds

As part of our biodiversity topic we have bought and decorated 2 new bird homes for the KS1 garden. We hope they like them! Our next step is to have some in the early years garden too. We have also been making sure that our feathered friends have enough food when they visit. We are regularly topping up our bird table and new feeders with tasty snacks.

Living Streets - Walk to School Scheme

In March we launched our walk to school scheme. This is to encourage pupils to think of more active ways to travel to school. By doing this we not only promote good physical and mental health and wellbeing, but it also helps to reduce the congestion around the school gates making it a safer and cleaner environment.

Don from Living Streets visited our school to tell us all about it. The children loved hearing all about his travels to Antarctica and how travelling more actively can help to look after our planet.

We have started earning badges for our journeys and even have our very own Strider!

RHS School Gardening Awards

The RHS school gardening award is a free programme to encourage schools to integrate gardening into their curriculum. Through this programme we help children to develop skills, improve wellbeing and connect with nature.

In January we were awarded with our Level 2 certificate which means that we all contribute to our gardening plans, we are learning new gardening skills and we use gardening to support our wellbeing.

We love being in our school garden and are working hard towards Level 3.

Still Good To Wear

Eco Team are hosting their first eco event. To help reduce the impact of sending clothing to landfills and to reuse 'still good to wear' uniform, we have organised a swap shop. We have asked for clean, unnamed uniform to be sent into school by the end of June. On Wednesday 2nd July, parents/carers will be able to come into school to choose some extra uniform items.

Did you know? - Micro plastics which are found in some of our clothing can take up to 200 years to decompose.

In the UK, approximately 350,000 tonnes of clothing is sent to landfills every year.

Our Eco Code

With the help of all the children at Annfield Plain Infant School, our eco team have created our eco code. This outlines what we can do to help look after our environment.

Always water the plants

Never waste electricity

Nice flowers for bees and butterflies

Feed the birds

Insects need homes too

Everyone can make a difference

Leave the car at home sometimes

Don't drop litter

Put food waste in the compost bin

Love where you live

Always recycle

Imagine a brighter future