Let’s Go Zero school action: Boothroyd Primary Academy – Dewsbury, England.
Boothroyd Primary Academy is a very urban school. So, the school emphasises the importance of sustainability through campaigns, STEM units and new infrastructure, for example:
Incentivising community-student engagement through litter picking, wildflower meadow planting, and community work.
Reforming the curriculum by focusing on STEM and sustainability – exposing students to sustainability related careers.
Installing environmentally-friendly infrastructure such as solar panels, and energy efficient lights.
Explore the Let’s Go Zero map to see where else teachers, students and school communities are taking action to become zero carbon by 2030.
The teachers and students leading the action:
“The more educated children are about why it’s important to look after what we have, then the more they can go home and spread the message.”
Rebecca Ruddy Assistant Principal
What are they doing in their school?
They are part of the Living Street Scheme: Walk to School; counting students’ steps on the travel tracker so that children can collect their badges the more they walk.
The school has done a lot of litter picking in the local community. As well as, contacting organisations to decrease their waste. For example, contacting Asda, which is their local supermarket,regarding their plastic packaging.
The school does a lot of planting on the ground such as a wildflower meadow. Also, they have worked with a local community group that created a hibernaculum and invested in their pond to improve local wildlife. They also collect their water and re-purpose their waste.
They encourage outdoor and active learning so that students can know and appreciate the local area.
The school installed solar panels on the roof and new boilers. As well as installing light and smart meters in the buildings.
They run STEM units based on different elements of sustainability, such as ocean waste and plastic pollution in Africa. The programme also focuses on career development in areas of sustainability that otherwise students would not have been exposed to.
The student-led group: Community champions are working on the Let’s Go Zero project. They work across the community but mainly focus on how they can improve the school’s carbon footprint.