Home Page

Sustainability & Eco

 

Millbrook is committed to being an Eco-School where the principles of sustainable living are embedded into the heart of our school life.

Meet Our Green Team

We are delighted to introduce our Eco Warriors for 2021-22. This year we are challenging ourselves to build on our successes of last year to make our school and the environment more sustainable. We are delighted to be working more closely with the school council. Look out for news of the exciting projects we will be undertaking this year!

 

Our Eco Warriors

Eco Warriors

Our Aspirations

 

To be friendly and eco-friendly and to be good listeners to people's ideas.

To make sure our plants and people are looked after.

Upcoming Events

 

The Walk to School Challenge

All classes are taking part in our Walk to School Challenge!

The challenge is delivered by Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, to help as many children as possible experience the benefits of walking to school.
The pupil-led challenge will see children self-report how they get to school every day. If they travel sustainably at least once a week for a month, they get rewarded with a badge. It's that simple!


What are the benefits of walking to school?
Walking to school helps children feel happier and healthier. They arrive refreshed, healthy and ready to learn. More families walking means fewer cars on the road, helping to reduce congestion and pollution at the school gates.


What if we can’t walk to school?
If you live too far away or don’t have time to walk the whole way to school, you can Park and Stride to help your child earn their WOW badge. Simply park or hop off public transport at least ten minutes away from the school and walk the remaining journey.


What is a WOW badge?
There is a unique WOW badge to earn every month if you walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or Park and Stride at least once a week. Each badge has been designed by a pupil from across the UK as part of our annual WOW Badge Design Competition.


Pupils will start the year by completing a celebration of the Wonders of the World. From November, they will then Walk for the World, earning badges featuring wildlife they can help protect from climate change through sustainable travel.


The badges are made in Cornwall from repurposed plastic material that was otherwise destined for landfill, including fridge trays, plastic plates and yoghurt pot off-cuts. For more information, visit: livingstreets.org.uk/recycling

Greater Manchester Green Summit

After helping Tameside MBC produce a video for their Green Summit, we had the privilege of being invited to the Greater Manchester Green Summit. We were addressed by Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester.  We met the leader of Tameside Council, Brenda Warrington, and discussed how our school is reducing its carbon footprint with no paper days and no power hours.  We saw singing and dancing electric Tesla cars, and cars that run on hydrogen, took part in workshops about green careers and practised "Speaking Out" - finding out how to use our voices to speak to adults about what we want them to do about climate change!  Finally, we visited different stands demonstrating how to get rid of waste.  We really enjoyed our day at the Lowry!

Electric Car.mp4

Still image for this video

No Power Hour

On the last Friday in January, the whole school powered down for an hour. Each class had to take part in an activity that did not include the use of any technology (not even lights!). Some of the imaginative activities we took part in included baking in the dark, hotshots, drama and even maths!

Tameside Green Summit

Meeting the Governors

Our Eco Warriors met with the school governors on Governor Open Morning to share the work that they have been doing to increase awareness of environmental issues. They gave a presentation, which they had previously given to the whole school following a 'Paper Free Friday', and then held a question and answer session.

Paper Free Friday

The Eco Warriors had examined the school's paper usage over a normal school week and presented their findings and recommendations for reducing the amount of trees we consume, along with the energy and resources it takes to make paper. They considered home use as well in the forms of kitchen roll and tissue as well as printer paper.

Eco Scarecrow Day

 

We used recycled materials to create scarecrows to promote our harvest food collection.

Recycling Centre Visit

Millbrook's Green Ambassadors visited Longley Lane Recycling Centre to see how household waste is sorted and recycled.  The children learnt lots of useful facts which they are very keen to share with the rest of the school.