If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you’ll remember that last week we, the Cynergy Green Team, visited Evenwood Primary School to speak to years 5 and 6 about caring for the environment. We thought that the best way to spread the word about going green would be through youngsters – those who will take responsibility for caring for our communities now and into the future.
The class had really impressed us with their enthusiasm and willingness to get involved on the first day. We returned a few days later to see what they’d learned since our visit…
We entered the classroom to a very warm welcome, with all of the students eager to show us what they’d been working on. We were proud to see that they remembered everything we had taught them, and had even gone on to do some further work of their own!
The class showed us the poster projects they’d been working hard on since our last visit. Many had designed their own garden with ways of recycling energy, attracting wildlife and growing their own produce. A few had surveyed the number of birds in the school garden, and one group had even demonstrated where fossil fuels came from and how we should preserve them.
After hearing about what the children had learned over the past few days, we gave them one final challenge to get them thinking. They have already studied the biblical Ten Commandments, but what would be their ideal Ten Green Commandments to follow at school? This started a great deal of knowledge sharing, and also much debate on which ten should take priority – which would be best for the environment overall? Would many people switching off an unused light make more of a difference than a few people making big changes to their recycling habits?
When we asked who had already started making changes at home and at school, almost everyone put their hand up!
To finish off our project, we asked the class if they would be interested in making their own Green Team to continue the great work they’ve already started. It was great to see almost the entire class filled with enthusiasm at the idea! They signed a green pledge to do what they can, and we agreed to keep in touch to share new ideas and make sure we were both keeping our end of the promise!
We finished the day with the class holding an assembly to let the rest of the school know what they had been learning, and why it was so important. We gave every member of the class a certificate to show how proud we were of effort they had put into becoming green. We have to admit that one of the highlights of the day for us was hearing the song that the recorder group had composed in our honour:
‘Cyn-er-gy, Cyn-er-gy, they’ve helped us save energy!’
One pupil, Abbie, read out two fantastic acrostic poems that she had written about us and the environment.
What inspirational young people! We will be keeping in touch with the Evenwood Green Team to swap ideas and keep updated with what each other is up to.
We really appreciate the enthusiasm of all of the pupils we worked with. They have invited us back to see the show they’re planning for July, starring their very own Mr Plantpot to educate others on why they should care for the environment – we can’t wait to see it!
Looks like we managed to achieve our aim!
-The Green Team