Growing Schools Conference 23rd March 2009

"Get Your Hands Dirty" is taking place at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew to help teachers find out more about learning outside the classroom. There will be a series of workshops run by organisations such as the Federation of City Farms and The Royal Horticultural Society and a market place for further information. The conference runs between 9am and 4.30 and costs £75 to attend. Further details are available from the Growing Schools website.

Food waste consistently forms the largest proportion of household waste which if sent to landfill would rot down, producing methane gas, a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change. Leicestershire County Council is offering all Primary Schools one free Green Cone food digester to encourage pupils and staff to reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill. This will be professionally installed.

The Green Cone digests all types of food waste, including fruit and vegetable scraps, dairy products, and bread, as well as raw and cooked meat, fish, bones and organic kitchen waste. Unlike a traditional composter is does not produce any compost, the food waste is simply converted into nutrients that pass into the soil. One Green Cone can digest two kitchen caddies worth of food per week, and for this reason it is not suitable for the main kitchen or canteen use. Suggested usage could be on the edge of a playground for packed lunch or break time remnants such as bread crusts, peelings, apple cores etc.

Schools can also request a copy of a DVD explaining more about Green Cones and the importance of food waste minimisation and disposal.

If your school would like further information or place an order, please contact Nicola Howell on (0116) 305 7288 or email nhowell@leics.gov.uk

Householders can also purchase a heavily discounted Green Cone from Leicestershire County Council.

Join the Pod

The pod provides useful resources, activities and support for schools wanting to apply for the Green Flag award. There are free resources, a blog to spread the word of your projects to other schools and bronze, silver and gold awards for schools working on various environmentally friendly projects. The Pod is run by EDF energy so naturally a lot of information is dedicated to energy efficiency but has also had input from the Eden Project. The site is aimed at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 pupils. To find out more and to register your school see The Pod.

Generation Green - energy education and prizes

This is an excellent energy education website run by British Gas where schools can gain points to swap for green awards such as a water butt or bird nest camera. Green Leaves (points) are awarded by downloading lesson plans, calculating schools carbon footprint and by family and friends completing an Energy Savers report on the British Gas website. See Generation Green to find out how your school can benefit

Sustainable Schools and eco award schemes

A recent study by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) - Sustainable Schools: How national recognition schemes can support your school's progress shows that Eco Schools is a good comprehensive programme. It found that Eco Schools was the only scheme to meet all 8 doorways of sustainability across the 3 c's - curriculum, campus and community.

Climate Change in our world

Google Earth Outreach has teamed up with Met Office Hadley Centre and British Antartic Survey to produce new layers for the Google Earth maps which show climate change will affect the world in the future. The Met Office shows how future predicted temperatures will affect certain parts of the world whilst the British Antartic Survey layer shows ice caps retreating. Both are fully animated with stunning pictures of the Antartic.

Acorn Awards - Really Wild School Grounds

The Stepping Stones Countryside Management Project are running this school grounds competition with prizes for three lucky schools. The winning school receives up £150 vouchers to spend on their school grounds and the runner up schools £50 vouchers. Schools are awarded points according to the range and variety of different categories including wildlife habitats, food and drink for wildlife, growing fruit and veg and links to the national curriuculum. If you would like to put forward your school for the award, contact Stepping Stones Countryside Management Project for a an application and further details. Closing date is 6th June 2008. *Please note the competition is only open to those schools in the Stepping Stones Countryside Management Project area (the Parishes surrounding Leicester City).

BP Carbon Footprint Toolkit

This free interactive CD Rom gives teachers and pupils the resources to calculate their school's carbon footprint. It allows pupil to collect their own data, compare it to real life situations and work out their carbon footprint both at home and at school. There are even some top tips on reducing carbon emissions. The toolkit is supported by 12 lesson plans and a student's area with a gallery and 19 factsheets. Register at the BP website for a copy of the CD and access to online resources.

New Eco Schools Assessment Criteria

All Eco Schools applying for a Green Flag are now required to submit a copy of their Energy Display Certificate with their application. All Leicestershire schools recently received a copy of their certificate in the 'Everybody's Saving Energy and Water' folder sent earlier this year. The certificates have been produced to pre-empt the requirements of the EU Energy Performance of Buidlings Directive which will be introduced in October 2008. All public buildings (including schools), over 1000m3 are required to display their certificate in a public place. The certificate rates the building on energy performance from A - G, similar to the system used for fridges and washing machines. If you can't find your copy of your certificate contact The Energy Services Team Tel. 0116 305 5995.

To find out more about Energy Display Certificates and tips on saving energy in your school see the Sustainable Learning website and register to join the programme. The programme is a task based approach to saving energy and water in school and can be used towards the energy and water topics of the Eco Schools assessment.

Renewable Energy Grants

The Low Carbon Buildings Programme can provide grants to schools to help towards the costs of installing solar photovoltaic cells, solar thermal hot water heating, wind turbines, ground source heat pumps, wood pellet stoves and wood fired boilers. To find out more about the grant scheme and the technologies available see the website.

The Community Sustainable Energy Programme is a Big Lottery Fund run by the BRE and is available to schools to help them purchase and install renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency measures jointly. Grants of up to £50,000 or 50% of capital. See the website for further information.

BBC Breathing Places Schools

This programme for Primary Schools is inviting schools to 'Do One Thing' to encourage wildlife into their grounds and increase pupil's understanding of wildlife. There are termly activities and with the first step being to carry out a basic survey and plant seeds provided by Breathing Places. The summer term DOT will be around minibeasts and the winter term DOT will be around feeding animals. Schools in the scheme receive a welcome pack, access to a website, newsletter and ideas for activities. To find out more and to register your school see the BBC Breathing Places Schools now.

Receive free potato seeds, a growing guide and £5 garden centre voucher when you enter this competition getting children involved in growing their own food. There is also a wealth of online resources including classroom activities, lesson plans and even a height charge. Register at the Potatoes for Schools website now.

Help with planning cooking activities and links into the national curriculum. Free resources include certificates for pupils, recipe ideas and worksheets. Register at the Active Kids website for help.

The 2008 Climate Change Champions are now working hard to raise awarness of climate change nationally and in their local area. There are 9 champions in each region in England and the East Midlands champion is 17 year old Pippa from Ashby Parva, Leicestershire. Pippa's entry was a plan for an art installation on climate change.

Pippa has already been on a four day trip to the Netherlands to find out how climate change is being tackled there and met a Dutch Minister, sailed to the Q7 Wind Park to look at wind turbines in the North sea and went on a fact finding mission in Amsterdam.

If you would like to talk to others about your ideas for tackling climate change or get in touch with Pippa then join footprint friends.

This online toolkit helps pupils to understand issues about climate change at home and at school.

Pupils can use the website to measure the carbon footprint of their school using a carbon calculator to calculate carbon dioxide emissions based on data collected on energy and water, food and drink, travel and transport, waste and recycling, purchasing and the building and grounds. Results help pupils to explore how the carbon footprint of their school can be reduced ranging from cheap simple measures which change habits to introducing new equipment to the school to reduce energy and water usage. This is a fun, easy to use toolkit which integrates climate change into the curriculum suitable for Key Stage 2 and 3. See Carbon Detectives to find out more and register your school.

Located at the Lount Composting Site, this educational resource centre is available to all schools in Leicestershire free of charge.  Visits take place on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 10 - 12.  A variety of workshops are available including habitats, lifecycles and food chains with visits tailored to Key Stage 2. See the Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire website for for further informaiton. Schools Interested in booking a visit should contact Sara Smith at Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire on (0116) 222 0238 or email composting@gwll.org.uk. The centre is located on the outskirts of Ashby de La Zouch.