students looking at small specimens from under logs

World Citizens

Greenfield is committed to ensuring that our provision as a school encompasses the community outside the school walls and being a world citizen. There is always work to be done, but here you can read a few of the ways that we strive to make Greenfield even greener.

Future World Team

Prep School - boys and girls in uniform

The Future World Team is a group of children from Reception to Year 6 who are committed to making ongoing positive changes in the world. Every week, they meet over breaktime to discuss new idea and initiatives that can be put in place around a certain topic. The children then complete their own research and present their findings before launching a fundraising campaign for a particular charity.

Bake sales are a great way to raise money at the school  – every year the children (and staff) contribute to a breaktime bake sale and over the past 2 years we have raised over £700 for charities including Sea Changers and WWF.

Greenfield Outreach

Eco Club

Led by our Heads of Social Responsibility, our Eco Club meet every week to ensure that Greenfield stays green! Working with our Estates Team, our caterers CH&Co in the Kitchen, our cleaning team at Bright Horizons, as well as consulting our SLT, the children discuss and implement real ideas and initiatives that help Greenfield reduce its environmental impact.

Each term, the Eco Club focuses on a different topic within the Sustainable Development Code. In academic year 2022/23, the topics were: ‘Waste’, ‘Biodiversity’, and ‘Energy’.

Waste Week

This year a new topic has included ‘Marine’, and so the children have been raising money for Sea Changers all year, as well as thinking about various ways that the Greenfield community can help in the efforts to clean up our seas and oceans – including a litter pick at the local canal.

Every class also has dedicated ‘Eco Monitors’ that ensure that their classroom peers are doing their bit and following the green initiatives, e.g. turning the lights off, correctly disposing of recyclable materials.

In 2023 we were delighted to announce that the incredible efforts of our Eco Club and Future World Team earned us a Green Schools Green Flag Award!

Greenfield’s Green Flag Accreditation

World Citizenship: In the Greenfield Curriculum

As part of our relevant, real-world curriculum, we teach climate change and social responsibility explicitly throughout the curriculum: in the Lower School, in their Topic lessons, and for Middle and Upper School in their Geography and Understanding the World lessons.

A Greenfield Education

In these lessons, topics include: plastic pollution, greenhouse gases, deforestation, and energy consumption. Using sustainable development goals, we aim to weave these topics into our curriculum through a variety of teaching: in drama lessons, we have had school productions with an environmental message (‘The Island That Rocked’), and in the English department we  introduce literature and new authors whose stories touch upon these messages.

For each termly initiative that is put forth with the Eco Club, children in Middle and Upper School work towards a week-long ‘Make A Difference’ homework. Each year group’s task varies according to their age group, and one of our most recent assignments included researching the disposal of materials that are tricky to recycle or re-use, e.g. batteries, rubber, etc. Through child-led research and enthusiasm, we are always impressed by the dedication and quality of these assignments.

School Initiatives

We are always looking for new ways to make Greenfield’s processes and system as sustainable and environmentally conscious as possible. Along with our helpful eco warriors in the FWT and Eco Club, here are just a few of the most recent policies and initiatives that Greenfield has put in place to help do our bit in reducing our carbon footprint:

  • Half and quarter portions at lunch to reduce food waste.
  • All laptops, iPads and PCs use Ecosia – the search engine that plants trees.
  • Introducing a ‘Laminating Policy’ to restrict laminating and reduce our plastic waste.
  • Lights around the school automatically turn off when no motion is detected.
  • Recycling facility for “soft” plastics e.g. plastic bags, clingfilm, crisp packets etc.
  • Recycling facility for glue sticks, batteries, pens and coffee pods.
  • Regular litter picks in forest school sites and local community.
  • Continual re-use of exercise books from previous years to save purchasing new books and using unnecessary paper.
  • All paper used in Art is recycled, and all glitter is biodegradable.
  • In DT, rather than using plastic or cardboard containers, children bring in their own containers to take home food.
  • All computers have an automated switch off in the evenings.
  • Paperless Admissions
    • Throughout 2021-2022, our Head of Admissions Mrs. Rust embarked on a mission to make our Admissions department completely paperless. Previously, every child in the school would have printed copies of all relevant documents – contracts, reports, documentation, welcome packs, prospectuses, communications…suffice to say we had an enormous paper output that we drastically reduced. After conducting a survey of current and incoming families, over 88% prefer digital communications and so now the whole Admissions process is paperless, from online forms to digital prospectuses. This Herculean initiative earned our small Admissions team recognition from AMCIS Awards, being shortlisted in the ‘IMPACT’ Admissions category in 2023.

Greenfield in the Community

School Events

Dragon's Den

Dragon's Den

student selling crochet items

Every year at Greenfield School, once our Year 6 children have completed their exams and secured their senior school places, they are faced with a long-anticipated challenge: Dragon’s Den.

We are always looking for new and exciting ways to challenge our students and encourage them to develop practical skills. The Dragon’s Den challenge is simple: create your own product or service that is sustainable and eco-conscious, whilst raising as much profit as possible for their chosen charities.

Dragon’s Den Challenge 2024

Earth Hour

Earth Hour

students den building

Earth Hour is a global movement which takes place every year, and is aimed at raising awareness about environmental issues. The idea that by collectively participating a small gesture – switching off and looking after the Earth for just one hour – has a significant global impact in our efforts to reverse climate change and preserve the Earth’s future.

At Greenfield we participate in Earth Hour by switching off technology and electricity for a whole afternoon: lessons are encouraged to be taken outdoors where possible or using only natural daylight – and no screens!

Earth Hour 2024

Fairtrade Festival

Fairtrade Festival

For our first Lower School Children’s Festival, the theme was Fairtrade – and the students were all set to explore and learn about the importance of ethical and sustainable trading. After listening to a presentation about the need for Fairtrade and how our shopping choices can make a global impact on the lives of farmers and producers, the children then gave presentations themselves in teams about various Fairtrade products: from gold, cocoa, bananas gingerbread, and Fairtrade footballs.

Fairtrade Festival 2023

No Mow May

No Mow May

Greenfield school entrance

Each year for the whole of May Greenfield participates in ‘No Mow May’; an initiative that aims to boost biodiversity and protect the natural wildlife and habitats in our rural areas.

Waste Week

Waste Week

DT

As we aim to become an Eco School and live up to the “green” in our name, from 7th -11th November we focused our attention on waste output.

During ‘Waste Week’, the children and staff spoke with various members of our community to devise a plan to reduce our waste levels, ensure that we are recycling effectively and minimising our environmental impact. Speaking with our Head Chef, our Head Cleaner, our Estates Assistant and a local waste expert from Joint Waste Solutions, the children learned several ways in which they can help reduce waste.

Waste Week Review

Open Morning - Friday 22nd November 2024

Friday, 22nd November, 9 am

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girl and a teacher working at their desk