Eco Council – Aston Hall Junior & Infant School

Eco Council

At Aston Hall J&I, we are committed to playing our part in protecting our planet by taking action on a small and big scale to increase recycling, reduce waste, improve eco-efficiency and reduce our carbon footprint.

During 2022-23, our eco council worked towards achieving the Eco-Schools Green Flag award by completing the relevant steps and targets required within the seven step programme. We also worked towards achieving the Green Tree Schools Award from the Woodlands Trust.

What is Eco Council?

Eco Council is a group of pupils from year 1 to 6 who meet at least half termly to discuss eco friendly and environmental issues within school which prepares children to live their future lives with consideration for global issues. There are two eco councillors from each class in Key Stage 1 and 2.

Why do we have an Eco Council?

To ensure our school is eco-friendly and prepares pupils to live with reflection of the environment.
To make sure each class has a platform to voice their opinions.
To discuss and raise issues related to the environment.

What happens in the meetings?

We will begin each year by completing an environmental review to find out our schools successes and areas for improvement. We then use this to create an action plan for the upcoming year.

Throughout the year each Eco Councillor meets with their class to discuss ideas about changes and improvements to the school. The issues are then raised in meetings and Eco Councillors discuss how to move forward with these ideas.

The eco council will also meet with our trust’s premises manager to discuss what projects are taking place to improve the school’s eco-efficiency and lower the school’s carbon footprint.

Eco Council Updates 2023/24

This month, our Eco-council has signed up to ‘Cut Your Carbon’ month. 🌎♻

Your child will have come home with a checklist where they have 9 ways to cut carbon to tick off. These activities include designing a flight free holiday, donating to charity or turning the heating down.

If the children take part in these activities and can show the Eco-council what they have been up to, there will be a reward at the end of the month!

Happy carbon saving! 😄

Energy Sparks Visits Aston Hall

Our Eco-council recently had a visit from the company Energy Sparks. James came to speak to the children about how to use the website and how we can be more efficient around school.

He showed the children our energy data from last year and compared it to this year and explained how much money we have saved now that we are more aware of our energy use. The children tested appliances to check how much energy they were using and to see how much they were costing the school.

The children were also able to use James’ infrared equipment to look at the hot spots around school. It was very interesting to see where heat was escaping and how we can control it.

The Eco-council will now be introducing jobs in classes to make sure classroom lights are turned off, monitors are turned off and windows aren’t open when heaters are on. They will also be tracking the Energy Sparks website to make sure our energy usage is decreasing.