At Yavneh, we strongly believe student leadership is one of the essential strands of personal development. We encourage all students to take on leadership roles in our Yavneh community and believe this is vital to developing our values and vision.
Eco Committee
This year we created an Eco-Committee in order to improve our sustainability as a school.
The committee, led by Miss Simons (Science) and Mr Gordon (Geography) is been made up of two students in each year group and has met on a monthly basis.
Part of the role of the committee was to apply for the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award in order to give us a structure and plan to make a difference. The award involved creating an action plan to improve three areas of the school and to document progress and impact.
We received the accreditation of the award in July 2023 and we plan on continuing the work of the Eco-Committee in future years.
This is an extract from the report from our application for the award:
We are very pleased to tell you that you and your Eco-Committee at Yavneh College have been successful in meeting the requirements for the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award.
We reviewed your application and noted the following:
Our team enjoyed reading about the Eco-Committee you have put together this year, comprising both student and adult members with a shared passion for protecting our planet. Your selection process is inclusive and robust, well done to selected members on their appointment! We loved reading the application from a potential member of your Eco-Committee. They sound like a very impressive individual and are clearly passionate about improving their local community and protecting our planet. It was great to read that carrying out the Environmental Review gave your pupils plenty to think about and helped them see how they could make a difference to their environment. We admire your commitment to tackling areas where you scored lowest in the Environmental Review and your consideration of the cost of resources to help you complete your projects. Your Action Plan clearly shows that your Eco-Committee has carefully considered how it can involve the entire school in its planned Eco-Schools’ activities to achieve maximum impacts and raise awareness amongst the school community. We love the variety of practical activities planned for delivery and it’s great to see strong monitoring and evaluation factored in. Great work everybody! Your examples of learning correspond with your chosen Eco-Schools topics, providing an important real-world context for your students that will inspire and motivate and give them a more in-depth understanding of the projects that they are working on. We love the sound of your enrichment club working on improving your school grounds and biodiversity around your school site – well done to all involved for their hard work in this area! Thank you for sharing some great examples of your lesson resources, our team loved looking through these. Your Eco-Committee members have made considerable efforts to keep their schoolmates and community up-to-date on their progress, using a variety of methods including posters and emails to staff. The digital poster you uploaded is fantastic! We love that as a school you are also using the power of social media to share your good work with the wider community. And it’s great to read that you’ve teamed up with the primary school committee to spread the eco-message further and wider! This comprehensive approach will help to engage others and expand the reach of your Eco-Schools work. Our team enjoyed reading your evaluations of each of your chosen topics. It’s clear that you’ve made great progress towards achieving all of your goals for your chosen Eco-Schools topics this year – along with the figures provided and evidence you’ve shared with us throughout your application, everything points to a very successful year on your Eco-Schools journey, well done everyone! Your acrostic poem Eco-Code is thoughtful and very powerful, and full of direct calls to action. It’s a great reflection of the ethos that your Eco-Committee has created, we’re sure it motivates and inspires everybody who reads it around your school site. Well done to all involved! Thank you for your question suggestions for next year’s Environmental Review, they’re interesting and intelligent ideas that we will take into consideration when compiling next year’s review. Overall, this is a terrific application. Everyone at Yavneh College should be proud of the Green Team and the amazing and inspiring work that they’ve delivered this year. You’re more than worthy of your Eco-Schools Green Flag with Merit. Congratulations!
