News and views from the schools taking part in Roots & Shoots: Mission Possible

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

Orwell Park School in Ipswich, Suffolk joined Roots & Shoots: Mission Possible today.

You can see where Orwell Park School is on a map and read about their local environment here.

Bryn C.P. School in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire joined Roots & Shoots: Mission Possible today.

You can see where Bryn C.P. School is on a map and read about their local environment here.

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!)

Rykneld Primary School in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire joined Roots & Shoots: Mission Possible today.

You can see where Rykneld Primary School is on a map and read about their local environment here.

Claytons Primary School in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire joined Roots & Shoots: Mission Possible today.

You can see where Claytons Primary School is on a map and read about their local environment here.

Little Heath Primary School in Coventry, West Midlands joined Roots & Shoots: Mission Possible today.

You can see where Little Heath Primary School is on a map and read about their local environment here.