From August to October, the Green flag committee put a great effort into trying to get more students to cycle to school! We made posters to put around the school. We gave out reflectors to everyone who cycled to school one Monday morning. We made a slideshow for mentors to show the students about the benefits of cycling or walking to school. We discussed the positive effects of cycling on the mental and physical health of the students and the positive effects for our climate!

We continued to reduce our use of paper in our school this year. We did this by reducing the amount of paperwork sent home, opting for email and sharing information via schoolsoft instead. The Green Flag committee made  presentation to the teachers to give them ideas about how to reduce paper and to think before printing worksheets. 

The Green Flag committee made paper recycling boxes for every classroom, and PANT boxes for different areas of the school. The school principal bought us new plastic recycling bins to encourage plastic recycling in the student and staff rooms. We put a glass recycling box in the staff room. 

The Green Flag committee helped to bring the PANT bottles and cans to the local COOP supermarket where we donated the money to VI I SKOGEN, a charity that helps to build trees. They also helped to bring the plastic recycling to the local plastic recycling bins.

When we wanted to plant more flower boxes around the school, our caretaker found old flower boxes in the basement and we fixed them up to use in the Autumn. During the Winter months, these boxes were ruined and our caretaker came to the rescue again using wood leftover from making benches, he made beautiful new flower boxes for us to plant our Spring flowers in!

The Green Flag committee planted and replanted flower boxes for the entrance of our school to suit the different seasons. For example, we planted heathers for the Winter season, daffodils for the Spring season and lobelia and marigolds for the Summer season.

The Green Flag committee and all the Year 6 classes planted their choice of seeds in April/May. They could choose from a range of herbs, vegetables and bee-friendly flowers. Some students brought these home and some students looked after them in the classroom and we planted them out in the school garden.

Year 6 students helped to clear the weeds and dead flowers from the school garden in the Spring to make way for new plants!

In December, all Year 6 classes looked after an amaryllis and watched it grow rapidly before one student took it home for Christmas. This greatly increased the appreciation for and awareness of how plants grow and the names of the different parts of a plant.

The Green Flag committee organised an Autumn photo competition and a Spring photo competition to help the students be more aware of the beautiful nature around them and the change in the seasons. We got around 30 entries each time from all year groups 4-9 and we gave prizes to the top five photos each time.