‘The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.’ -Robert Swan
Our intent for the children at Christ Church is to improve their understanding of how to live in, and be part of, a sustainable world. We aim to help them grow into responsible citizens caring for both our species and habitats, making positive changes that will benefit our ecosystems for years to come.
The children in the Eco Council take great responsibility in leading initiatives and events across the school, helping to achieve positive outcomes for both the local and wider environment. Following the undertaking of a whole school environmental review, the children make informed choices of where their efforts will be most impactful, taking a hands-on approach to achieving their aims and encouraging their peers to do the same.
At the end of the academic year, the Eco Council reviewed our school Eco Code. You can view this using the link below:
This year, Mr Birleson and the gardening club have been working hard on creating our new ‘Come Dine with Me’ garden outside the Year 6 building. Next year, the plan is for the produce grown to be used as part of the Year 6 ‘Come Dine with Me’ sessions, where each week a group of Year 6 children plan, cook and serve a meal to a member of the local community.
Our school kitchen garden, found next to the music room, also continues to thrive! At the May Fayre and at the end of the summer term, many of the plants and vegetables grown were sold to raise money for next year’s compost.
During Term 6, Year 5 and 6 were visited by their local MP Brian Mathew, who held a Q&A with the children. We were really impressed with the thoughtful contributions and questions the children shared. The KS2 Eco Councillors then met with Brian to discuss environmental issues, and led a tour around our school grounds, highlighting our environmental projects.
To celebrate Earth Day, every child at Christ Church created an ‘Eco Wish’, sharing a small change they can make to help look after our planet.
Today, we had lots of fun during our annual Eco Arts Day! Year groups across the school paired-up to create eco artwork using donated magazines. We also held a non-uniform day, raising money for the WWF Climate Recovery Fund, as voted for by the Eco Council.
Year 5 have been working with the Christ Church church team to help improve the biodiversity of the churchyard. Working with a landscape architect, an ecologist and a tree surgeon, the children surveyed the plant and insect species living in the churchyard. From their findings, the children made recommendations about how to further develop the biodiversity in the habitat, including a ‘hedgehog highway’ into the school grounds, defining larger ‘no mow’ areas and managing the trees growing there.
Christ Church Community Month
In June, the whole school took part in our annual Eco Arts Day.
This year, we based our artwork on the theme ‘patterns in nature’ and each year group chose an artist to base their work on. Here are some examples of the children’s creations.
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 6
In March, Year 6 continued their work with Christ Church church, and helped to plant snowdrops in the churchyard.
From 21st March – 6th April 2025, everyone at Christ Church was invited to take part in the Great Big School Clean, a national event to encourage children to litter pick in their local area. Lots of children got involved, litter picking in their own time, during the Easter holidays. Everyone who participated earned a certificate, and were celebrated in our Friday assemblies. Well done everyone!
Our Eco Councillors have been busy creating posters to remind everyone to turn off taps when they’re not being used. Check out some of their fantastic designs below!
Biodiversity at Christ Church
As part of our biodiversity work towards earning the Eco Schools Green Flag Award this year, we decided to find out more about the species that grow in our school grounds. We created documents to share facts about some of the tree species at Christ Church, which can be found below.
When you next visit our school, look out for QR codes attached to some of our trees; scanning them will take you to the information about that particular species!
Our whole school took part in Eco Arts Day during Term 6, with children from different year groups being paired up to create 3D sculptures of a variety of different animals that can be found in endangered habitats, based on the series of Wild Tribe Heroes books. Keep a look out in September to see some of these sculptures displayed around the school!
Today, the Running Out of Time Climate Relay team visited us at Christ Church, and gave an assembly to the whole school about their work on tackling climate change. The baton was then passed on to the Year 5 and 6 Eco Councillors, who gave the relay team a tour of our Eco work, before travelling into town with the baton and transferring it to the next runners. The children were great ambassadors for the school, and more information about the relay can be found at https://running-out-of-time.com
This year, we’ve worked with our local church to plant additional species in our local area to improve local biodiversity. Throughout the year, the Year 4, 5 and 6 children have been able to plant a variety of species, including snowdrops, shrubs and trees in the churchyard. They also helped to plant 500 bulbs!
Thank you to everyone who wore blue and made a donation for the Ocean Conservation Trust – we raised £368.79! The Ocean Conservation Trust is a charity that aims restore and protect the ocean, centred around people and positive action, whose focus is on pro-ocean behaviour and habitat restoration.
