Recent updates on current Roots & Shoots missions

The new Roots & Shoots Group in Bristol has arrived! We are in our first months of activities but we are already finding enthusiastic students raring to get involved and make a difference for the environment, people and animals.
We had our very own table at the University of Bristol’s volunteering fair at the Students Union where over 60 people signed up and countless others showed their support of Roots & Shoots and Dr Jane Goodall. Being able to see all the chimpanzees and Roots & Shoots work worldwide was a massive hit.

Our first events surrounded Make A Difference Day where we made and decorated over 200 cakes and raised over £120 for Sea Shepherd …

Read all of 2011/2012 Update Roots & Shoots Bristol

Background to the Exchange
The Ugandan exchange originated in 2006.  Wisewood School & Community Sports College was chosen as part Specialist Sports College schools to link with Uganda through the Dreams and Teams partnership set up and coordinated by the British Council. During this time the Headteacher and Deputy Head of Wisewood visited Kibuli Secondary School in Kampala, Uganda, with a reciprocal visit the following year by the Headteacher and Head of Geography.

In 2008 the Head of Geography and Head of PHSE of Wisewood visited Kibuli to share good practice in teaching and learning.  This was followed up by two members of Kibuli Staff visiting Wisewood in 2009.   The next natural step was to investigate a student exchange to take place.

In …

Read all of Our Ugandan Expedition – July 2011

Over the year our environmental leaders have been working on a significant project around water with our partner schools; Backwell school in Bristol and Angoreb School in Ethiopia.  Over last year they looked at the water they used and shared their results with one another.  This included such things as how much water they used in bathing, showering, washing up and washing clothes.

The results were startling with a huge differences between the two schools in England and our Ethiopian partner which reflected the very different cultures and the precious nature of clean water in Africa.

This recently culminated in the first Green is Global International student and Head teachers conference …

Read all of Green truly Is Global

One of the many things at Penryn College that the environmental leaders find difficult is the number of plastic bottles and plastic things that get thrown away each day.  Even though a lot of this gets recycled the students thought they might do something a bit more interesting with the waste we produce so they decided to team up with the art department and create a piece of recyled art.

The first step was to ask the school to collect as much waste plastic as they could, from bottles to lids, bags to toys.  No-one expected the school to respond the way they did with over thirty bags of plastic waste collected in a single week.

With the art team the students …

Read all of Recy-Art

Something that our Green Team has been waiting for a long time for are our new editions to the school farm.  Three weeks ago two chickens, Victoria and Betty, and two rabbits, Rhubarb and Custard, came to stay.

The two light Sussex chickens have already started laying eggs, which are now being sold to the staff and the rabbits are creating a real buzz around the farm.  The idea of having the animals is to develop an empathy in students for all our living creatures and help students gain a sense of responsibility and commitment in their lives at school.

Each week two members of the Green team are chosen to look after the animals, visiting them everyday to feed and check on them during lunchtimes and the animals are more than …

Read all of Our new farm editions!

At the start of the summer our Green team took part in a nationwide project to grow wheat on our farm.  Called ‘Bake your Lawn’ it called for everyone to grow some wheat on their school plots and when the time was right turn it into flour.

In planting the wheat the green team tried three different methods, firstly scattering it randomly in the plot, or planting in rows and lastly putting it in clumps.  Over the summer the wheat grew, the planting in rows proving best, until in the autumn the wheat started to mature and turn brown.

One afternoon the team then cut down the wheat and tied it into bundles to go a golden brown before threshing and winnowing to gain the wheat …

Read all of Our own Penryn Cakes

For all the excellent work the environmental leaders do over the year it is important that they gain recognition for the work inside school and as they move further in their lives.  That’s why Penryn College has decided to launch the new Sustainability BTEC for all our environmental leaders from this year.

However, as we only meet formally once a week its almost impossible to deliver which is why we have decided to make it an online,  independent learning course where students can access the information, upload all they are doing, keep notes of meetings and talk to each other through one website.

The environmental leaders have chosen to break themselves down into small groups, each looking at one of the eight …

Read all of Our new Sustainability BTEC

The Roots & Shoots programme is ‘About making positive change happen’ and so is everyone at St Christopher’s Roots & Shoots is also about creating a ‘Supportive environment where young people come together to share ideas and inspiration’ just like St Christopher’s. Roots & Shoots encourages ‘young people like us to implement successful community service projects and participate in special events, so do St Christopher’s. We haven’t achieved global domination but we’ve defiantly caught the attention of most in our county and the nation beyond that. We have tried to make all we do appealing to everyone – from listeners of BBC Radio Lancashire to the fans of football; to primary school pupils and to the old folks of nursing homes.

Naturally to get …

Read all of Our Roots & Shoots group (what was and is and is to come!)

    
Community Orchard
In November 2010 at the invitation of Transition Town Andover and Test Valley Borough Council, members of the gardening club represented the school by planting a fruit tree and crocus bulbs in the local community orchard.
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Read all of Mission Update November 2010 – September 2011 – Portway Junior School

Roots & Shoots in Cambridge run a project within Anglia Ruskin University. This year, we will fundraise for MONA.

MONA is a Sanctuary in Spain which conserves primates through rehabilitation, education and preservation of their habitats. We hope to travel to MONA, Spain Summer 2012 to volunteer and work with MONA in primate conservation. Our fundraising event involves selling warm fair trade soup and rolls during the colder months to students on the run for a good price. Proceeds of this will go to MONA.

We are fortunate enough to have captured the attentions of film students in Cambridge and Cam FM who have asked us to do an interview. We hope to advertise our fundraising event, gain more support and help …

Read all of Our Exciting Project