Sustainability Vision
The issue of sustainability and the consideration of the impact our current lifestyles have on the planet has never been more important than it is today! At Seven Hills, we aim to encourage children to think carefully about our lifestyle choices by making pupils, parents, staff and stakeholders aware of some of the major issues and threats our planet faces, such as our collective carbon footprint as well as water, air and plastic pollution. By making links throughout the curriculum, and through planned sustainability days, we aim to provide children with the required knowledge and understanding of the importance of key sustainable practices such as energy saving, recycling, upcycling and lowering car usage/car idling. In addition to this, we have extensive solar panelling on the school roof that we use to harness our own electricity, and also supply it to the national grid.
We encourage children to develop a love of nature and an appreciation of the beauty of our natural world. We instil in our children the desire to respect, and care for, and improve the world that we live in. At Seven Hills, pupils have the opportunity to experience nature first-hand in our high-quality outdoor classrooms which include a pond and woodland area, planting areas in Foundation Stage, and an allotment where children can experience growing first- hand in Key Stage One and Two.
As part of our extended curriculum we teach about sustainable travel, how to keep safe near roads and safe parking around our school vicinity. We use the ‘Modeshift Stars’ criteria for planning our work on sustainable travel.
During the first week of each academic school year, children learn about how to keep themselves happy, healthy and safe. They think about ways to keep themselves healthy physically and emotionally, with links made to the health benefits of walking to school and also the safety aspect in relation to being aware of the dangers near roads.
Over their time at Seven Hills, our children have many opportunities to learn and talk about how they keep safe crossing and walking near roads. We hold special ‘Road Safety’ themed days and assemblies where children take part in activities and have discussions about how they can keep safe by for example, wearing bright clothing and not crossing close to parked vehicles. In the Early years’ outdoor environments, children can role play crossing the road safely using the crossing markings on their bike tracks and through circle time activities and discussions. We also have strong links with the local authority that regularly come into school to talk about road safety with children across the phases at a level appropriate for their age. When children start in year six, they have the opportunity to take part in ‘Bikeability’. These are sessions run by the ‘Cycle North’ team who teach children about how to ride their bikes safely under the direction of qualified instructors.
We collect data twice each academic year from the children about how they travel to school and hold walk to school competitions to promote sustainable travel. We regularly hold conversations about the health benefits of walking which links with our Mindmate, PE and PSHCE curriculum and about the environmental benefits which links with science and geography teaching. Our dedicated Eco Warriors and School Council help us to plan and monitor sustainable practises within school.
Our vision is that our children leave Seven Hills with the knowledge and understanding to live a more sustainable lifestyle and be pro-active in encouraging others to do this also to preserve the beauty of our natural world for future generations.
