Sustainability

Danesfield School is committed to ensuring that we help protect the planet for future generations. As a result, we have joined the Let’s Go Zero campaign, that unites schools in talking about climate change by working to become carbon-neutral by 2030.

We are assigned a dedicated Climate Action Advisor to support us to embed sustainability into every aspect of school life. We know this is a huge challenge, but we want our children to understand how they can help change the world for the better and help save the planet.

They will support us to:

• Track and understand our carbon emissions and climate risks.
• Review and update our climate action plan.
• Find funding for climate projects.
• Lower energy bills.
• Generate clean power
• Nurture green spaces.
• Offer planet-friendly food.
• Get staff and students walking, scooting and cycling.
• Reduce waste.
• Create inspiring lessons linked to climate change.
• Engage and empower staff, young people and the wider school community

By joining the Let’s Go Zero campaign and committing to becoming a zero-carbon school, we’re taking a positive step on a local level to help combat the climate issues we all face globally. It sends a strong message to our whole school and community that together we can safeguard our planet for future generations.

Find out more about the Let’s Go Zero campaign here: https://letsgozero.org/

Here are some of the things we are already doing to reduce our carbon emissions and help the environment:

• Bikeability: This is the government’s national cycle training programme which our children in Year 6 learn practical skills and understand how to cycle on today’s roads.  We appreciate that due to our location, it is not possible or safe for many of our pupils to cycle to school.
• Swap shop: We have run a couple of these in the last few years, helping our families to save money, reduce waste, and build community by exchanging items instead of buying new ones. We aim to carry out more of these in the future.
• Gardening club: A gardening club promotes sustainability by reducing food miles, supporting biodiversity, encouraging composting, and fostering resource sharing within the community.
• Eco-friendly achievement cards: We have updated our achievements cards so they are now made of seed paper. This reduces waste and allows our children to take it home and grow their own plant! It also supports biodiversity and provides an eco-friendly alternative to our previous plastic cards.
• Walking Bus: Last year, we set up a walking bus to help reduce car use, cut carbon emissions, improve air quality, and promote healthier, safer travel for children. Although this was an initiative over one week, we would like to be able to offer this more frequently.
• Biomass heating: The heating we use offers benefits such as reducing reliance on fossil fuels, lowering carbon emissions, utilising renewable organic materials, and promoting sustainable energy practices.
• Encouraging car sharing and use of the school bus: Parents can use the HomeRun app (https://www.homerun-app.com/) to carpool and have the option to use the school bus. Both helps to reduce the number of vehicles on the road (and in the car park!), lower greenhouse gas emissions, decrease air pollution, and minimise traffic congestion.

We are currently updating our action plan, which outlines the steps we are taking to continue to reduce our impact on the climate, and will upload it here shortly.