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.
Let’s Go Zero school action:
Sky Primary and Eden Project Nursery, Cornwall, England
Sky Primary and Eden Project Nursery in Cornwall opened to families and children in September 2022. They are currently based within the Eden Project but will soon be moving to their permanent building that is currently being built by the Department for Education. It will be net-zero in function and is in an eco-village called West Carclaze Garden Village. They are doing many things for climate and sustainability including:
- Working with families and the wider community to be more sustainable.
- Having plastic free packed lunches.
- Creating a nature inspired curriculum and encouraging outdoor learning.
Read on to find out more.
The teachers leading the action:
“People don’t know what to do, so it’s about the constructive hope, or construction of hope that those small changes linked together can make a big difference. I think that’s what our children engage and connect with, are motivated by and therefore become passionate about their place. They need to have that positivity and be solution focused. We also celebrate our actions and learning as a community, also looking for ways to link with relevant organisation, schools so we become agents of change together.”
Emma Vyvyan, Headteacher
What are they doing in their school?
As the school will be based in a village with a small catchment area, they are hoping that most families will walk to school. The school will have electric vehicle charging points that will be powered by solar panels for the community and staff to use.
All families are encouraged to provide plastic free packed lunches. It has proved very successful and has become part of the culture in the school. The school encourage and remind everyone regularly, but the whole school is doing it together, so everyone is made to feel part of something bigger. The rationale includes healthier eating, cost savings and sustainability.
The school newsletter includes a section about recipes or tips on making bought food cheaper. For example, instead of buying individual yogurt pots, buying one big pot and using a reuseable container everyday can cut down on waste and cost. The children are empowered to take this message home and it’s resulting in the changing of shopping habits, showing small actions can have big impacts. The children are also encouraged to bring in re-useable bottles to refill at water fountains.
As the school is in temporary accommodation, they rely on a local primary school in their Trust to provide their hot school lunches, which are brought in every day. The lunches are cooked in-house, with input from the children so there is very little food waste. Any food waste is recycled at the Eden Project and made into biofuel. The kitchen staff are also very accommodating to sustainable suggestions made by the school.
Ms Vyvyan, the school’s headteacher, hopes to have a localised school menu when they move into their permanent building. Working with local suppliers would mean fewer food miles for the school.
The school has an outdoor classroom which they use all year round. The school provides waterproofs, so the children’s clothes are kept dry and clean in wet weather. By having appropriate outdoor wear, the children are encouraged to be in nature, whatever the weather.
Through the school’s nature-inspired curriculum and outdoor learning opportunities, children are given real life experiences to make connections with their natural surroundings, to be inspired and learn from them.
The schools’ new grounds will also have an outdoor classroom, sports pitch and spaces for wildlife and adventure, including a wild wood. It was co-designed with the school by a team of local landscape architects and students from Falmouth University. There will be lots of native plants, natural materials, and places to explore.
The school are developing their own curriculum inspired by nature, with sustainability at the core of everything that they do. The school has invited the wider school community into their school to share their goals and learning. Every half term, they gather their community together and celebrate their children’s learning and local Cornish culture.
The school is trying to connect their whole range of subjects to nature, hoping to inspire children to understand, connect with and protect their local environment.
Cymraeg 
English (UK)