BGS Impact Report 2022-2023 by Bristol Grammar School

Impact REPORT 2022–2023

BGS in the community and beyond

This past year we have more than doubled the number of people who have been positively impacted by our outreach and partnership work. Staff and pupils supported 5,846 people across the city through a dedicated program of volunteering, regular outreach projects, charity work and fundraising.

Contents OUTREACH PARTNERSHIPS EDI WIDENING ACCESS TO BGS OPENING OUR DOORS SUSTAINABILITY

06 12 22 24 32 34

2022-2023 Highlights 300

staff were actively involved in BGS Outreach and Partnership work.

£1.5 million

372

100%

people per week regularly impacted by Sixth Form service in activities.

5,846

raised for means-tested

Bursary Awards.

of partners agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “Our partnership with BGS provides a positive impact for a number of people within my organisation.”

100%

people supported by BGS staff and pupils.

agreed or strongly agreed that “Outreach by BGS staff/pupil(s) has improved the service we provide to our community.”

£24,000

staff provided regular outreach projects delivering teaching, leading partnership activities, and providing governance.

was saved by local community groups and charitable enterprises through free or heavily discounted use of our school facilities.

6,248

hours were donated by staff and pupils across the year to support local projects and charitable initiatives.

205

voluntary activities through DofE and IB Diploma.

I am delighted, and incredibly proud, to share with you Bristol Grammar School’s first Impact Report. It highlights the huge range of work with which our pupils and staff are engaged, to ensure that BGS is a school for the city of Bristol, and not simply in the city.

It is a stated aim of ours to be a force for good beyond the school gates. We are aware of the privileges we enjoy just by being part of a school like BGS, and as recipients of that good fortune, we share a deep belief that there is a commensurate responsibility for us to work for the wider good. This is, of course, a twoway street – our pupils and our whole school community are enriched by this work, in terms of personal growth, and in terms of the deeper connection we all make with the world beyond BGS. We want our pupils to understand that as just one small part of society, they belong to a bigger whole. We want to help them to develop into young adults of compassion and integrity, who understand their place in our society, and who wish to use whatever skills, talents and advantages they have, to make a positive and meaningful difference to the world around them.

More than a simple description of the variety of our activities, this report is our first attempt to understand their impact – both on those beyond the school gates, and on our own community within. Over the years, we hope to develop an even clearer picture of measurable impact, to help us to ensure we are making a difference for as many people as possible. I have found it genuinely humbling to see this all laid out in one place. I am so grateful to everyone who makes it all possible – our wonderful pupils, our incredible staff, and all those in Bristol and beyond, from whose wisdom, willingness, kindness and genuine partnership we all benefit. I hope you find this first Impact Report as uplifting as I have. There is so much more that unites us than divides us as a society, and there is so much good we can do when we work together. This report is testament to that, and it is a springboard from which we can work harder, reach further, and create more meaningful impact still, for us all. JAIDEEP BAROT HEAD OF BRISTOL GRAMMAR SCHOOL

OUTREACH School Governance L6 French students VOLUNTEERING REFLECTIONS PERFORMANCE SHOWCASE

FREEDOM CHOIR

celebrate ‘Le Carnaval’ Hosting Dijon School

SPORTS COACHING

L6 Outreach Trip to STARSCHEME Siblings United Ecole Francaise Consultancy Inset Outreach Governor at Kingsweston Federation Reading After School Club Trustee Reflections Performance Showcase Group CLASSICS CLUB

Avon Schools Athletics Cross Country MENTORING & VOLUNTEERING Bristol Youth Offending Team

Sixth Form Clifton College Debates

Year 11 Maths Support

FUTURA LEARNING PARTNERSHIP

BEP Science CPD Programme

CHRISTMAS COLLECTION

BEP Careers Advisers’ Meeting

BIRDWELL SCHOOL Regular Art BIRDWELL SCHOOL MUSIC OUTREACH Outreach ART WEEK SABBATICAL IN GALAPAGOS

Community Music Making

Reverse Advent Calendar

DANCE CPD

Avon Schools Sports Hall Championship

Classics Outreach

Greek Club

UK Chess Challenge Mega Final

Team Chess Challenge

Birdwell School Printmaking Workshop

Science Staff Training Event

Sixth Form Activities – volunteering Kings Taunton Philosothon BEP BIG GIG MASSEY LECTURE

St Joseph’s Care Home Carols

Willow Park Partnership HOME National Schools’ YEAR 7 OUTREACH SCHOOL OPEN COACHING Chess Championships SQUASH

North West Bristol Food Bank ETHICS CUP

STAFF & Pupil

VOLUNTEERING

Our charitable fundraising is focused on developing meaningful engagement with, as well as fundraising for, our local community. We aim to ensure that 500 or more senior school pupils are regularly involved in mutually beneficial community outreach each year. The BGS Community Action Club provides weekly volunteering opportunities for pupils and staff at North West Bristol Foodbank, St Joseph’s Care Home and Windmill City Farm. They also take the lead with fundraising, hosting bake sales and nonuniform days across the school. Year 7s regularly visit local care home St Joseph’s, making cards, playing bingo and dominoes, and enjoying a natter over tea and biscuits. In the run up to Christmas pupils in Reception through to Year 6 donate items to Street Life - a Bristol based homeless charity.

Thank you so much for all the love and care put into helping your students make cards for St Joseph’s residents. It was a lovely, surprise visit for the residents. They were all talking about it all day. The children were so engaging with each person - they are a credit to you. ST JOSEPH’S CARE HOME

As part of our Junior School harvest celebration every pupil in the Infant and Juniors donates food to North West Bristol Food Bank.

We have being going to St Peters and St Pauls Primary School for several years now, listening to various year groups reading. Some of the children are very able readers and some need help with pronunciation, but they all try hard. The children are always keen to read and like to tell us about their day. The teachers are very appreciative of our time spent with the children. It is a really rewarding thing to be able to do.”

Staff led initiatives create ongoing connections with community groups, schools and local grass roots projects. From plogging around the park (picking up litter whilst jogging) to singalong performances in the waiting rooms of the BRI Heart Institute, staff delivered 15 community projects during the school’s Inset Community Afternoon in February, collectively supporting over 1200 people in just a few hours.

JULIE PIKE, STAFF VOLUNTEER

SIXTH Form

VOLUNTEERING

Our aim is for over 3,000 people every year to be positively impacted through community outreach. We have an annual target to provide over 200 hours of volunteering to support local community groups and organisations across the city. Sixth Form volunteers have established strong partnerships. Over this past academic year, 372 people per week were regularly impacted by our Sixth Form activities.

YEAR 7 AND TABLE TENNIS CLUB

In 2022-2023

BGS INFANTS AND JUNIORS HORFIELD LODGE ST JOSEPH’S CARE HOME BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION BROADMEAD

205

hours of volunteering provided through DofE activities.

WRINGTON RAINBOWS/ BROWNIES/ GUIDES OSBOURNE CARE HOME STAR SCHEME BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION YEAR 7 LEGO CLUB BRISTOL ROYAL INFIRMARY CLIFTON TOTS DAY NURSERY ST NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINE CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

372

people a week were impacted by Sixth Form service.

Maria is always cheerful, and ready to help the sisters or residents during suppertime, her help is much appreciated. ST JOSEPH’S CARE HOME

Dom is a really helpful, lovely chap. BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION

Pat is an absolute pleasure. She’s helped with everything from wrapping presents to helping with registering new patients. HORFIELD LODGE

Nanci volunteers not only time during her already busy week, but at the weekends as well. Nanci has grown our Instagram followers by over 300% – this has led to bookings on fundraising events, engagement with new customers and the recruitment of four current and former professional rugby players as ambassadors for the charity! STAR SCHEME

Fabulous, incredibly helpful, ‘one of the best’, working with all age groups. CLIFTON TOTS DAY NURSERY

PARTNERSHIPS

PARTNERSHIP activity We are incredibly proud of the strong links created between BGS and partnership state schools across the city. By creating a vibrant educational community our aim is to enable both pupils and staff across the education sector to share in learning. BGS provides dedicated funding for teaching staff to share expertise with local primary and secondary schools via timetabled Outreach of around 15 periods per fortnight. BGS supports staff to participate in our educational community by providing and encouraging professional development network opportunities in Bristol and beyond. BGS supports its staff to be actively involved via roles as governors or trustees of local schools.

HANHAM WOODS ACADEMY Nine pupils at Hanham Woods Academy obtained a GCSE in Further Maths. Maths teacher Graham Iwi has tutored Further Maths at the school for many years. The latest cohort all passed, with three pupils awarded grades 7 & 8 (the equivalent to A*& A) as an additional qualification alongside their standard GCSE subjects. WILLOW PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL Neighbouring pupils at Willow Park Primary School joined our Year 5 pupils for a Financial First Aid workshop as part of ‘life skills week’. Experts from Lansdown Place Wealth Management used fun games and activities to teach pupils about savings and investments.

BGS is a beacon of education, and we should be doing everything that we can to support our community. I believe that maintaining good educational standards should be a collective effort across our society. BRIE BARNACLE, BGS ART TEACHER

BIRDWELL PRIMARY SCHOOL Art outreach is such a vibrant offer and supports both teachers and pupils creatively. Art provision has positively impacted pupil wellbeing, raised teaching standards through bespoke training workshops, as well as provided dedicated lunchtime art clubs and shared resources for pupils.

A SPOTLIGHT ON:

THE FREEDOM project

Music Teacher Charlie Morris has been working in partnership with local primary schools to deliver a concert with The Freedom Choir.

Mr Morris is always smiling and making us laugh. He is determined to make sure we learn how to do something and even if we get it wrong he will help us to improve. YEAR 6 CHILD

“At BGS we’re rightly challenged to make sure that our outreach work is as impactful as possible. For me the excitement of The Freedom Choir was its impact on numerous levels; not just in connecting and building relationships with pupils across multiple schools, but also in using musical pieces as a vehicle to explore cross-curriculum learning. The chosen music celebrated the vital role communal singing has played throughout poignant moments in history; from the American Civil Rights Movement to the Suffragettes and the Baltic ‘Singing Revolution.’ This transformed a standard music lesson into an opportunity for pupils to sing musical ensembles, whilst learning about their historical significance. It was wonderful to invite 60 pupils from Wansdyke Primary School and Luckwell Primary School, alongside our own BGS Juniors to perform at Clifton Cathedral. The concert became more than just a performance, we were aware that some pupils in the audience had not ever seen an orchestra, and so we took the opportunity to introduce instruments from the stage and encouraged pupils to listen out for lyrics and melodies as the performances took place, converting a traditional concert into a collaborative learning platform.” CHARLIE MORRIS BGS MUSIC TEACHER

THE impact

OF PARTNERSHIPS

THE impact

OF PARTNERSHIPS

FURTHER MATHS “Staff, students and parents alike are extremely grateful for all of the support Graham has provided as part of the outreach program. Not only are our nine Level 2 Further Maths students receiving high quality input towards their qualification, but they are also receiving outstanding marking and feedback, enabling them to build on specific areas of weakness. Graham has also given us access to the BGS Chess competition which four of our Year 7 students thoroughly enjoyed competing in. We will look to continue this partnership next year.” The Cabot Learning Foundation

ART CLUB “The children in our school LOVE and are very engaged with the opportunity to experience more art beyond their classroom learning. Art club is very popular and the children who attend look forward to it each week. It builds their confidence, enables them to explore different interests and learn in a different environment. Brie is absolutely brilliant with the children and ensures that each session is structured with clear objectives, is fun, creative and gives the children plenty of ‘doing’ time to be creative with their art.” Birdwell Primary School

MUSIC OUTREACH “Pupils fully engaged and a wonderful experience for them. Parents very supportive and commented on such a fabulous concert. Support from Mr Morris was tremendousdelightful manner with the children.” Luckwell Primary School

CLASSICS CLUB “Great student opportunities catering for a broad range of different student cohorts, plus CPD links with staff.” Clevedon School

DANCE, DRAMA & FOREST SCHOOL “Yesterday was a fantastic day, and the children and staff had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. Your staff who ran the sessions were great, they were mindful of the needs of the children they were teaching, and the children learnt so much. Please pass on my thanks to your team.” Willow Park Primary School

BGS is a committed member of the Bristol Educational Partnership (BEP), a group of 14 schools, two universities and the city council each supporting the BEP aims of broadening young people’s experience of education, opening up new opportunities and overcoming disadvantage. Jointly led by Director of Music Guy Guerrini, the BEP Big Gig brought together schools across the BEP partnership with a showstopping performance encompassing pop, classical, folk and musicals to showcase the wealth of talent. The gig featured soloists, small ensembles, dancers and culminated with a combined choir and orchestra of all performers.

EDI

STUDENT survey

We are committed to working with partners towards meaningful action to tackle racial and other inequalities across Bristol. Bristol is a diverse city and BGS is a diverse school – our pupil body currently comprises 34 different nationalities with at least 31 languages spoken at home, ranging from Albanian to Urdu, Vietnamese and Yoruba. Engendering a sense of belonging for all pupils is key; our curriculum and structures must ensure that people feel welcomed, and that differences are celebrated.

From 752 responses across Senior School and Infant and Junior Schools (March 2023).

89%

of pupils feel comfortable to be themselves, without worrying about how others perceive their identity, gender, sexuality, race, colour, religion, ethnicity or disability.

91%

of pupils say other BGS pupils treat me fairly when it comes to my identity, gender, sexuality, race, colour, religion, ethnicity or disability.

92%

of pupils say BGS staff treat me fairly when it comes to my identity, gender, sexuality, race, colour, religion, ethnicity, or disability.

CREATING an

INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENT

INCLUSION Heads of academic departments and the first group of support staff managers have received training on leading an inclusive department. This will be rolled out by middle leaders to their departments in Summer and Autumn Terms.

SARI The school has partnered with SARI (Stand Against Racism and Inequality), and departments throughout the school have worked hard to diversify our curriculum, exposing students to a wider range of perspectives, cultures, and experiences.

FLAIR A team of four Year 11 pupils won the ‘Social Influencer Award’ from the national FLAIR ‘Future Leaders Competition’. With the aim of raising collective voices, the group created an awareness campaign to influence schools to report on racist incidents. In recognition of their success, BGS will receive a £200 inclusion grant.

CULTURAL AWARENESS WEEK As participants in Bristol Education Partnership’s Student Leadership programme, pupils created a social action project to make positive change in Bristol schools. They teamed up with prefects to organise BGS’s first Culture Week, featuring music, food and traditional clothing from across the world. The week was designed to enable pupils to share their heritage and to celebrate the cultures of the 34 different nationalities that make up our pupil body. 23

WIDENING ACCESS TO BGS

A SPOTLIGHT ON:

THE ROYAL NATIONAL CHILDREN’S

SpringBoard Foundation

Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation (RNCSF) helps disadvantaged and vulnerable children from across the UK to access fully funded bursaries at leading schools. New research shows that care experienced children are five times more likely to take and secure the A levels they need to get into university because of the opportunity to attend an independent school through the Broadening Educational Pathways Program. This year BGS became the first independent school in Bristol to host care experienced SpringBoarders, as we welcomed two pupils into the school. Led by Head Jaideep Barot, over 100 other schools have signed a pledge to join RNCSF and widen access to independent education across the south west.

Not only has BGS shown exceptional enthusiasm for being part of the Broadening Educational Pathways programme, but they are also committed to laying the right organisational foundations to meet individual support needs. BGS have supported RNCSF to widen our connections in the city and region, kindly hosting an event to engage other schools and local authority referrers with our work. We very much value our partnership with BGS and look forward to supporting many more care experienced young people over the years to come. LEAH MORGAN, RNCSF

REFUGEE

Admissions

PROGRAMME

Established in 2022 the Refugee Admissions Programme supports Bristol as a City of Sanctuary. We began to work with Bristol City Council to identify and support children fleeing from conflict who would benefit from an education at BGS. Through the generosity of Simon Turner, one of our leadership donors, four Ukrainian refugees began their BGS story with a fully funded place. These four pupils are flourishing at BGS achieving grade 7 or above for attainment in nine of their subjects, with one pupil passing her Russian GCSE a year early. Each pupil is fully involved in the school community, bringing fellow pupils together through tennis, and even introducing Volleyball to the school. Others play an active part in helping the local community volunteering at food banks, visiting the elderly and helping out at the city farm. The whole school community was deeply touched by the gesture of kindness and goodwill shown at such a critical time by the Mayor of Kyiv who shared a plaque as a measure of thanks to the school for its support of Ukrainian children, which is proudly on display. 26

Friends, thank you very much for your support of Ukrainian Children. Bristol Grammar School Regards from Ukraine. VITALI KLITSCHKO, MAYOR OF KYIV

CHANGING LIVES

through bursaries AT BGS

12%

of pupils are supported with 50% of school fees or more

Sixth Form pupils are receiving a Bursary of 50% or more

Our Mission is to provide an exceptional rounded education to all those who might benefit regardless of background and financial means. As we approach the 500th anniversary of our Royal Charter in 2032, we encourage our BGS community to support bright and able children with a means tested bursary of at least 50%. We plan to raise £12million. If you don’t have the financial means, you do everything that you can to make sure that opportunities remain open for your children because of who they are. STEVE BANKS, PARENT OF A BURSARY AWARD HOLDER

It’s a relief when you know that the school believe in you. To me, Bursary means that you have the potential, other people believe that you have the potential. LIZ, BURSARY AWARD HOLDER

This year, over 100 children are benefitting from means-tested bursarial support in the Senior School. The students who benefit, come from disadvantaged backgrounds together with families who need a percentage of support and work hard to meet the rest of the fees. In all cases, we believe that creating opportunity for all children, regardless of background and financial means, benefits the school, the city of Bristol and the world beyond. A key difference with our work to that of many other independent schools is that we have changed the culture of bursary support to redefine bursary recipients as “Bursary Award Holders”. At BGS we recognise Bursary Award Holders for having earned their place and we are richer for having them here. They are found amongst our leading lights – star actors and musicians, captains, Prefects, Heads of School, and contributors in so many other ways – and this continues well beyond their time at BGS. As a team, we are passionately committed to increasing access to life-changing education and our vision is owned and shared by the Governing Board, the Senior Leadership Team of the school and every member of our teaching and support staff. Increasingly, support from parents and most significantly our Old Bristolians is delivering significant funding that has enabled us to change lives within the first two years of the campaign. Over £1.5million has been raised already. 29

The 500 Campaign raises funds to support bright and able children who deserve to be here at BGS and currently, we have reached our biggest cohort of fully funded award holders. These children are here thanks entirely to the generosity of donors. We are also grateful for the continued support and generosity of our trusts, Pople, John James, Denman and Brown who have enabled talented and committed children to fulfil their potential at BGS for many years. NADINE LATTE, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT, BGS

The 500 Campaign is now an award-winning initiative: Institute for Development Professionals in Education IDPE – Campaign of the Year Award, 2023.

Over 100 children in the Senior School are benefitting from philanthropically funded support. In the Sixth Form, we have encouraged individual sponsorship: Funded with philanthropy

100

Children with at least 50% Bursary Awards in Senior School

12%

Overall receiving support throughout the school

In the Sixth Form

Students receiving philanthropically funded Bursary Awards over 50%

7 4

Individual donors are supporting

Trusts are supporting

Of which are between 50-100%

Children with awards of over 85%

Children with awards between 50-85%

OPENING OUR DOORS

A SCHOOL FOR ALL

We are committed to providing access to our resources through sustainable and meaningful projects and partnerships. From access to our state-of-the-art Performing Arts Centre, use of our Sports Hall, squash courts and training facility at our University Road site or offering use of our expansive Sports Centre facilities at Failand. BGS also offers its buildings as hubs for community events. Through provision of free or reduced rate resources and facilities, charitable and community groups have saved in excess of £24,000 this past year. Break Free is a holiday activity programme designed to target ‘holiday hunger’ by providing high-quality activities and free food for young people living in south Bristol. Last year 625 young people attended the holiday program, 70% of those children receive free school meals. The 3G pitch and sports facilities at our Failand Sports Centre provided the perfect base for a range of activities and sports.

ithout wonderfully generous W folk like you we wouldn’t be able to make this possible. Your facilities acted as a real enabler. AMY KINGTON, CEO COMMUNITY OF PURPOSE

I love coming to Break Free. Going on trips, visiting places like the BGS Sports grounds and making new friends is amazing. ALFIE

The holidays are really difficult for us because we don’t have a lot of money. Break Free is brilliant for doing fun things, going to cool places and hanging out with mates. MADDIE

SUSTAINABILITY

By empowering our school community to make positive change to the climate crisis BGS is able to make an impact in our immediate environment and our wider community as well as educating our future changemakers and conservationists. Our Sustainability Action Plan is underpinned by the 4Cs of a sustainable school, and provides a strategic direction to sustainable projects to ensure a far reaching impact:

CAMPUS CONNECTIONS CURRICULUM COMMUNI TY Our grounds on the main site, at Failand and other estates we manage

Our neighbours, the wider Bristol area and beyond

Pupils will understand the importance of sustainability and environmental issues

Our school community is made up of our Governors, staff, families and pupils

CAMPUS As part of our stewardship and environmental commitment, all capital works have sustainability planning built into the supply chain. LED Lighting is fitted across the campus, biodiversity of green space is encouraged, hot water is supplied on demand, and the combination of our site wide recycling and digital learning culture reduces waste. Food is at the heart of any community, with over 200,000 delicious lunches served to pupils, staff and visitors over the last academic year, our Catering Department actively reduces our carbon footprint through an innovative range of sustainable initiatives:

Local Suppliers

Ingredients are sourced from local suppliers to reduce food miles and support the city economy.

100% Plastic Free

All plastic is replaced with compostable packaging to ensure our lunch service is 100% plastic free.

Carbon neutral electricity

Used oil is recovered into an environmentally friendly bio liquid generating carbon neutral electricity for the national grid.

Meat Free Monday

Our Meat free Monday menu supports the conservation of precious environmental resources and helps to protect biodiversity and ecosystems.

BIODIVERSITY At BGS pupils have been busy improving the biodiversity across our grounds from wilderness areas at Failand to tree planting. We have aspirations to wild out more mowed lawns, to make a pond and put in more bird and bat boxes, with pupils actively challenging our Senior Leadership Team on securing funding to make these plans a reality.

MODESHIFT STARS Pupils focused on ways to make travel into school more sustainable, collaborating with internal and external bodies, as a result funding has been secured to develop more active transport initiatives and the Estates Committee continue to look at our overall sustainability plan. 35

CONNECTIONS GREEN FLAG AWARD BGS is proud to hold the Eco School’s Bronze Green Flag award. In particular, Eco Schools praised our inclusive approach to appointing Eco-Committee members and recognised the proactive engagement of the school with environmental stakeholders. Engaging with a variety of stakeholders has enabled an internal and external review of immediate and longer-term impact. Avon Wildlife Trust advised on improvements to the biodiversity of school grounds whilst learnings from an environmental consultation have provided energy-saving initiatives. Eco Schools noted the impact of the Environmental Review and its impact on long term school strategies and improvements. During Green Week pupils across the school took part in a non-uniform day and vegan bake sale raising funds for Avon Wildlife Trust and Survival International.

I t is encouraging to see that so many put themselves forward. Your approach demonstrates a proactive, assured and inclusive approach to the programme. e love that your approach is educational, W informing and involving and this shows how valued and embedded the Eco-Schools programme is in your school. ECO-SCHOOLS JUDGE

LETS GO ZERO 2030 The school is also registered with Let’s Go Zero 2030 and continues to work towards improving sustainability and reducing our carbon impact, from replacing diesel vehicles with electric, to planting 400+ native saplings at Failand. 36

THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE Students and staff from 12 partner schools met up at Bristol City Hall in October 2022. This project started in 2019, and schools have been working on it ever since. The focus of the October event was to explore how BEP schools can collaborate in working towards Bristol’s target of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2030. The day consisted of workshops in the morning to revisit the key issues that schools are working on – energy, food, transport, resources and nature. There was also a discussion about how climate change education can be incorporated across the curriculum. At the end of the morning, students met with their Head or a senior leader to agree next steps within their own schools. The students’ presentations evidenced the considerable work going on across the partnership over a number of years to address climate change.

It was truly unlike anything I had done before, but an amazing experience to be able to share our viewpoints and ideas to a much wider local audience. It finally felt like we were being heard!. ADIYAT

BRISTOL EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS

EARTH WEEK

Following their involvement in the Climate Challenge Event at City Hall, BGS Sixth Form students, Tillie and Adiyat were invited to speak about all things eco on BCfm’s Breakfast Show, as part of the station’s Earth Week.

They updated listeners on the Eco Clubs and the whole school Climate Committee at BGS, through which pupils put forward initiatives to educate and inform fellow pupils, and improve the school’s sustainability.

CURRICULUM CREATIVE CURRICULUM LINKS Connecting healthy living, biodiversity and global citizenship projects happening across the school and embedding work into curriculum and everyday school life ensures that the sustainability and the impact we have on our environment is woven into every aspect of life at BGS. Whether it be pastoral or academic, at BGS we practice clear and creative curriculum links across the school. We readily see the benefits of a cross-curricular approach and how using a creative and practical pedagogical approach to work in turn challenges our pupils to make links between theory and the real world, as well as taking ownership of local environmental issues. Global citizenship, social justice and environmental stewardship are built into our wellbeing programme. Geography and Biology pupils learning about the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems later reflected on their relationship with nature through the creative mediums of Art and English.

COMMUNITY MAKE THE CHANGE DAY Using a cross-curricular approach to teaching climate change enables a whole school method to raising awareness of issues and engendering change. Teachers from English, Chemistry, Music, Business, Art, Computer Science, PRE, Geography and History all joined forces to lead explorative discussion on climate change. Collaborating with school uniform provider School Blazer, pupils attended a workshop and assembly on sustainable clothing solutions. From this, Year 8 pupils delivered a House Assembly on the theme of sustainable fashion to the rest of their house, enabling the whole school to get involved.

ECO-COMMITTEE The whole school Eco-Committee meet every half term to plan action and activity for the year ahead. The committee’s action plan sets out clear and time-bound tactics to connect healthy living, biodiversity and global citizenship projects happening across the school. The committee’s work with internal and external bodies is a great example of the collaborative approach we will all need to adopt to help and protect our environment.

This experience was hugely beneficial for me to understand how we can effectively implement students’ suggestions and ideas within the school, through careful and consistent communication with teachers and staff. This burgeoned my hope that students could have a genuine, meaningful impact on the school’s climate. ADIYAT, HEAD OF SCHOOL

University Rd, Bristol BS8 1SR www.bristolgrammarschool.co.uk