Members of the Eco Council 

Year 3 -  Mia, Shaarini, Olivia and Sevy 

Year 4 - Dollie, Isaak, Kayden and Nova 

Year 5 - Tobias, Penny 

Year 6 - Noah, Lottie and Nora 

Eco Council meet fortnightly on Wednesdays to discuss important matters brought to their attention by members of their class or the staff. The Wednesday that they do not meet, they spend this time litter picking around the school grounds.

Autumn Term 2024

During the Autumn term, we decided how Broadwater could improve on Sustainability and as a group discussed that we could be better with our rubbish. We wanted to remind the school what can and cannot be recycled! They made posters and took them around to each class. We then unboxed three amazing bird boxes, donated by F@B, and decided where they would go on the school grounds. We have hung two in the trees on KS1 playground and one on the school field.

We have put together bug hotels which we will be placed around the school next week. The children decided where they thought they would be best placed after researching what they do or don't need e.g. they cannot go anywhere that would get direct sunlight.  

It is also the Eco Council’s responsibility to keep the Pray Garden tidy. Therefore, we have been upkeeping by sweeping the leaves, placing any loose stones etc. 

The Eco Team have decided that they want to take part in the 'Walk and Wheel' in March. We have discussed the potential use of compost bins and would like to find out how we, as a school, can get bins for each class/ year group.

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Events we have been involved in

Eco Council - saves 78kg of pens from going into landfill!

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our pen recycling at school. Through collecting pens in our recycling bin from both in and out of school, we have managed to save a total of 78Kg of pens from going to landfill.  This has also raised £78.00 for the school.  Keep saving your non-working pens over the summer and add them to the bin next term.  Thank you to Worthing Boys' Club for supporting us with this scheme.

Eco Council Recycling Bins

Thank you to everyone who has been collecting and adding old pens and ink cartridges to our recycling bins at the entrance to the school.  We are pleased to say that we have now added a third bin for collecting used batteries for recycling.   Each class will also have a small box for collecting batteries which the class Eco Councillor will empty in to the bin in the foyer at regular intervals. Alternatively, they can also be added straight in to the bin in the foyer.  Thank you for supporting us with our recycling initiatives.

Walk to School Week 

 Well done to all the pupils who joined in with the Walk to School Week last week, despite the rather wet end to the week.  We hope you enjoyed all the benefits that walking to school brings. 

Overall, 79.62% of pupils walked to school over the week which is a fantastic achievement.  Macaw class had the most children walking with an average of 89.37% of children walking to school during the week.  They were closely followed by Toucan Class with 88.75% of children walking to school. Well done to year 4! Congratulations to everybody who took part and as we enjoy the summer weather, why not make a pledge to keep walking to school?

Sustrans Air Quality Testing 

We had a return visit from Paul Turner from the charity 'Sustrans' with the results of the air quality testing carried out before Half Term.  On his last visit, Paul and Eco Council put up three nitrous dioxide diffusion tubes - one in a classroom, one on the field and one just outside the main entrance.  

The results showed were concerning as the amount of nitrous dioxide in the air is above the WHO recommended levels both on the field and outside the main entrance.  Children in Year 5 then had a workshop with Paul and wrote letters to Tim Loughton MP explaining the results found and making suggestions for possible solutions to the problem such as reducing speed limits and adding more cycle lanes to encourage more people to use sustainable transport.  They are hoping to get a response from him.

New Recycling container

You may have noticed that today we took delivery of a textile recycling container in our front car park. This is part of our school recycling commitment which our Eco Council and Mrs Miller are leading on.

This recycling facility is for the whole school community to use and the school will benefit financially from the textiles that are collected (weight = income).

As you will appreciate, initiatives such as this come with Terms and Conditions. The key points for us are what can and can not be placed in the container. This information will be listed below.

Please feel free to use the facility at the beginning and end of the school day. The container will be emptied every fortnight. Please do not leave textiles on the ground (if the container is full) as the company will not receive wet goods.

Thank you in advance for supporting this project. 

Quality and Material Accepted

Astra Recycling will continually monitor the quality of all the collected material on a regular basis from the external bin collections.

We accept the following wearable items:

• All men's, ladies and children's clothing
• Paired Shoes
• Handbags, bags, ties and belts
• Bed clothes, towels, soft toys

Astra Recycling cannot accept the following items:

• Duvets both synthetic and feathered
• Pillows & cushions
• Carpets & Rugs
• Soiled or wet clothing
• Workwear e.g. (overalls/tabards)
• Shredded or mutilated textile material
• Textile off cuts, yarns or threaded material

Sustrans Bike Day 

Year 1 braved the weather on Wednesday and had lots of fun taking part in a bike skills day run by the charity Sustrans.  This was a great opportunity for them to improve and develop their cycling skills and gain confidence on a bike.  Some children rode without stabilizers for the first time.

Sustrans Air Quality Day

On Thursday 14th October, we had a visit from Paul Turner from the charity 'Sustrans' which encourages children to use sustainable transport to travel to school.  He led an assembly for KS2 children, as well as a short workshop for each junior school class.  He was telling us about the quality of the air around us and the impact the use of cars has on the air we breathe. The children had the opportunity to look for lichen in our outside environment through microscopes which can indicate the quality of the air around us.  Eco Council helped him to set up some diffusion tubes in different places which will collect air over the next few weeks and then be sent back to the charity to assess what the air is like in different areas of our school.  We look forward to hearing the results.

Recycling at Broadwater 

There are two new bins in the foyer to the school.  One is for recycling pens - ball points, felt pens, marker pens, highlighters - any sort of pen but no pencils please. 

These will be recycled as part of the TerraCycle scheme, through Worthing Boys' Club and raise money for the school.  The more we recycle, the more funds the school receives.  

We collect any old and used pens and they go to Worthing Boys' Club who have found a source within the Terracycle community who is willing to donate money raised for recycled pens direct to our school. This involves collecting pens, passing them to her and when the weight is enough, she will send them off.  Twice a year, money then gets donated to our school.  So, the more pens we recycle, the more money we raise.  Each class has a box to collect recycled pens so please save your old ones, send them in with your child to and help raise money for the school.

The second bin is for recycling ink cartridges.  This can be any make of ink cartridge but not toner or laser cartridges.  These will be recycled through the 'Recycle 4 Charity' scheme and again will raise money for our school.

Please collect all your pens and ink cartridges and drop them off in the bins in the foyer so that we help the environment and raise money for the school too.  Please share this with your family and friends and encourage them to recycle too.