Green Team

War on Waste!

Parson Street Gren Team have been working hard this year on reducing our food waste. We began with a Food Waste audit to investigate the scale of the problem. We were shocked to discover two big problems at school - we waste too much food and what we waste is not being disposed of properly. The Green Team prepared and presented a whole school assembly to teach their fellow pupils about our food waste and identified for them all the ways that they could help reduce this.

Eat all your food.

Don't take food you don't want.

Dispose of your food waste in the correct bin.

Food waste contributes to climate change - every single person can make a difference!

Last year:

Our major event for the year was Clean Air Week. Parson Street sits on a highly polluted junction, so clean air is of huge importance to our community.

• We held a roadside protest, encouraging drivers to turn their engines off while waiting at the lights.
• We had Bristol Council come and deliver air quality workshops right across the school
• We hosted a community event to coincide with our day of action
• We had free bike repair sessions with Dr Bike
• We played super sized games on the playground to learn more about active travel
• We encouraged all children to travel actively to school that week but especially on the day of action
• Staff shared Clean Air tips via twitter and assemblies 
• We introduced a parking pledge to encourage safe and active travel
• We launched a walk to school map highlighting the safe and pleasant local walking routes.

Missing Green Team in lockdown?

Want to be part of the Green Team from home?

Spring is here - it's free to enjoy and you can do while at home with your family, or while taking your daily walk.

Here are some brilliant ideas:

• Build a bug hotel in your garden
• Do a bird survey - can you identify the species coming regularly into your garden or park?
• Cross a few things off the National Trust's Things to do Before you're 11 3/4 list https://nt.global.ssl.fastly.net/documents/50-things-activity-list.pdf
• Dig, plant and watch something grow 
• Leave nesting materials out for the birds - even hair from your hairbrush is helpful!
• Do a two minute litterpick on your block every day, can you beat your own record?
• Find an ant, worm or ladybug and watch them closely. How do they move, eat and socialise?
• Spend loads of time in nature - can you spot a birds nest? Can you learn to identify a handful of tree species? What else can you discover?
• Learn to read a map and compass 
• Make a rain gauge
• Become your household's energy monitor - check your meters and see if you can reduce your consumption of electricity and water
• Do a plastics audit for your family. Can you reduce your single use?
• Tweet your adventures and tag #greenteam @parsonstreet to share

Try the resources on these excellent websites:

• National Trust https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/children-and-nature
• RSPB https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/
• Wildlife Watch https://www.wildlifewatch.org.uk/spotting-sheets
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/natureuk/entries/df41949f-27e7-39e7-9ae6-dfd4eb51ef8d

Media snippets

The Green Team has been active in the media lately, recently appearing on BBC Points West to highlight the issue of air pollution.

Let's Go Fishing!

In May 2019 the Green Team went plastic fishing in Bristol Harbour on a boat made from recycled plastic bottles. This was so inspiring! We picked litter and learned lots about plastic pollution from Clare at Sustainable Learning. We were even interviewed by BBC Points West and were so happy to see ourselves on TV talking about the issue of plastic in waterways. The Green Team have identified plastic use as a key area we can improve in the future at Parson Street. Look out for plastic reduction initiatives and what you can do to help. We are Team Parson Street, Green Parson Street!

Plogging!

Plogging - picking litter while jogging - is a favourite way for Team Parson Street to feel good and do good at the same time! Here we are on our inaugural plog. Loved it so much it has become a regular fixture on our calendar!

New initiatives:

The Green Team are busy throughout the year, constantly on the look out for initiatives that make Parson Street even greener. This year we have set up battery collection points and started collecting pens, highlighters and whiteboard markers for recycling through the Terracycle program. 

Malago Greenway Berry Maze

We are caretakers of a plot at the Berry Maze. We hold regular weeding sessions and tidy up our plot. We love contributing to the wider community and are proud to be involved with this great community project. Keep an eye out for fun community events held here - families are encouraged to get involved. Many hands make light work!

Updating our forest school area with a little help from our friends

A team of wonderful volunteers from the Bank of Ireland donated a day of their time and almost £1000 to help us update our Forest School area and do the hard landscaping for a new wildlife garden. They built bug hotel frames, which were finished off by the children, planted a native hedge, dug in a log seating circle, filled veg boxes ready for planting and built a gorgeous teepee. Our nursery and reception children are enjoying their Forest School learning in this beautiful space and the Green Team often slips in here to watch for wildlife. 

Our Wildlife Garden is a work in progress, we are currently planting wildflowers and butterfly-attracting shrubs, nurturing our newly planted hedge, keeping the birds fed and keeping our micropond topped up. By summer it should be blooming marvellous!

Green Team launch 2019!

We welcomed the new year with a get together to make bird feeders for the tree above the chicken coop. Some new green friends and old talked about our big ideas for the Green Team for the year.

An after-school Green Team Club has just begun. A new group of eco-warriors has taken ownership of the eco-audit which will highlight what we do well and where we can improve. This eco-audit will help them devise their action plan and all the new initiatives they come up with to make Parson St even greener.

The Green Team:

We have an active, keen and determined Green Team composed of representatives from each class. These children put themselves forward because they are passionate about sustainability, our environment and reducing waste through recycling. A governor, parent, teachers and the caretakers are also willing members.

The children take ownership, leading initiatives and inspiring others – this is what makes it innovative and so successful. 

Each year the team work together using data they have collated from audits, the school action plan and advice from eco schools to establish an action plan of goals for the following year. Projects include annual events such as Switch Off Week, Empty Classroom Day and local litter picks. All of these help us achieve our motto of ‘Team Parson Street, Green Parson Street.' We are all responsible for making Parson Street as green as it can be.

More Awards!

The Green Team work very hard at Parson Street and they have been delighted to be recognised for this with the following awards:

• Bristol City Council Waste Olympics - winner. We won £1000 which meant we could buy the fantastic recycling facilities we have around the school.  
• Eco Schools Eco Committee of the year - runner up. So proud to come second in this UK wide competition...and we got to meet Kirsty Allsop!
• Environmental Youth Awards - winner. This innovative and exciting regional competition was started in 1996 by Brigadier John Hemsley with the Royal Bath & West of England Society and has now become firmly established, capitalising upon its success in encouraging many youngsters to become interested in environmental and conservation matters.The aim of the Environmental Youth Awards is to recognise the part played by young people in promoting environmental projects, as well as encouraging a better appreciation and understanding amongst youth about the world around them on and in particular important conservation and environmental issues. This recognition is made on the basis of an award to any group of young people who have made a significant contribution to conservation and/or environmental management and sustainability. We won £500 which we have spent on hedgehog homes and lots of things to entice birds to our conservation area. 
• Bristol Evening Post Eco Committee of the year joint winners.