IMPACT - Environmental Report from Caterham School 2021/22

IMPACT Environmental Report 2021/22

Welcome to the latest edition of our environmental report. As world leaders convene in Glasgow at COP26 to review the progress made since the Paris agreements of 2015, it is clear that we are at a point where we can no longer assume that someone else, somewhere else will solve this urgent issue for us. At an international, national, corporate and individual level our awareness of and responsibility towards the environment needs to be central to all the conversations we are having. As a school community it is important that we measure what have achieved, are honest about what there is still to do and have a clear vision and plan to reduce our impact on the environment which sustains us.

Caterham School and Caterham Prep is a community of over 1,000 families – together we have the power to think and act positively in our everyday life and make a measurable difference.

Since the last edition of our Impact report, all areas of the school community have forged forward with important changes, despite the challenges of the pandemic. Our pupils, whose generation will feel the impact of climate change the greatest of all of us, have used their agency to bring about and embrace and enact initiatives across the school as part of the senior Green Committee and the prep Eco-Warriors. Teaching and support staff continue to drive forward change with the Environmental Strategy Group.

It is easy to become overwhelmed by the task ahead of us. However, this is a time for optimism and action (tinged with reality of course). Mankind has the power to be destructive but also incredibly creative – and schools have a key role to play in encouraging the next generation to ask the hard questions, to challenge our complacency and to help inspire the next generation of experts and academics – unleashing their creative and urgent energy as they discover solutions. We must never forget how powerful we are individually and as a community. Our individual actions, our care of our local environment and community can and does make a difference. It is these individual actions which form the vital building blocks of change, inspire others and collectively put us on a brighter path for the future.

Yours sincerely

Ceri Jones Headmaster

Best of the Best Inspiring Green Initiatives Autumn 2021

LIGHTBULB MOMENTS With well over 60 classrooms, labs, halls and corridors across our campus, switching to LED light bulbs brings a significant reduction in power consumption. Our programme of replacing incandescent bulbs means that the main Eothen teaching block, Hill Fields, the Rudd Hall, the Centre for Performing Arts and the Mottrams building in the Prep School are now entirely lit by LED bulbs and the rest of the campus is fast catching up. As the autumn/winter sports season moves to GMT with training sessions taking place post sun-down, the switch of flood lights to LEDs in the mobile units and on Titch Pitch will bring gains in managing power usage and enhance pupil experience. The main Astro pitch and Beech Hanger courts are next on the outdoor LED floodlight programme.

New outdoor lighting installed for ease and safety as our community move around the campus in the darker hours is on timers and motion controlled to ensure they are on only when needed.

120,000 kWh of energy saved annually through our new heat–retaining swimming pool cover.

CLEAR VISION

FEELING FLUSH

Replacing old single-glazed windows with double glazing and installing thermostatic valves on radiators across the site is progressing well as we improve the sustainability of a campus which combines both purpose built modern facilities and original Victorian school buildings.

Refurbishing loos might not be the most glamorous of tasks but with over 300 pupils in our Prep School the installation of water saving toilets within the prep and pre prep buildings since 2019 has had a big positive impact on the amount of water used and processed. This programme will continue to roll up through the senior school campus as facilities are refurbished.

WHEELS IN MOTION In the last two years the overall range and number of pick-up points on our coach and minibus network has increased to allow more pupils to use the transport service and reduce single-family car journeys.

Connection points with main public transport connections have also been improved with a shuttle service now available between both Caterham and Upper Warlingham Stations and the School at the beginning and end of each day.

EATING GREEN The introduction of a dewatering system within the school’s catering facilities has brought a reduction in the bulk of food waste from both the kitchens and plates. The system removes water content of the waste and ensures it stays within the water distribution system and results in significantly less bulk waste to be dealt with.

The programme of improving the sustainability of school vehicles has seen vans and cars replaced with electric or hybrid vehicles at the point of a new lease.

New visitor parking bays with electric charge points have also been installed at the senior school site for parents and visitors using electric cars.

Thank you to our parents who have been supporting our vehicle emission lowering drive by ensuring engines are turned off during waiting times at the Senior and Prep School.

STRONGER TOGETHER The most significant change comes from collective action and its clear that the different groups within our school community have been driving forward the Caterham sustainability agenda and putting it into action.

The Green Committee Act Local, Think Global The Green Committee’s focus across the last year has been on reducing and recycling waste across the school. With the limit to cross year group interaction in 2020-21 the committee decided that ensuring recycling was available across the campus was the most effective area to build.

The result is recycling hubs across the school and a central point of information and sharing of knowledge and ideas next to the Concourse Café.

Thanks to the Green Committee, Caterham is now a Bronze Award Eco School with progress already underway to secure the next award levels of Merit and Distinction . As part of the school’s submission for the award, the committee worked with teachers to assess where in the academic curriculum sustainability and green issues were being presented to pupils to ensure that education about the impact globally is twinned with action locally.

Committee members have presented to their year group assemblies about COP26 and some of its key aims to ensure all pupils are knowledgeable about what is happening this November and how they can play their part.

Parent Power From helping our own community to repurpose to supporting national and global initiatives, Caterham Parents’ Association have been a key element to our community sustainability drive. Nearly New Uniform shops in the Senior and Prep school alone have ensured over 300 pieces of uniform enjoy an extended life, not to mention helping to raise funds for good causes and enabling parents to buy or replace items for less. Sports kit that can no longer be used at school has been donated to charity Eusebia Hope Foundation.

Community collections organised by the PA and the school, such as the regular Bags to School collections, have also supported recycling. In Spring 2021 the Caterham School community donated a total of 725 pairs of shoes to the PA’s chosen charity, Sal’s Shoes. Following the collection shoes of all descriptions were transferred to Sal’s Shoes HQ for sorting and preparation for their onward journey to find new feet. In total 725 children received a pair of shoes that they really needed.

To find out more about SalsShoes visit www.salsshoes.com.

The work of this national and global charity is crucial as footwear is often a requirement for accessing education in many countries, as well as supporting health and wellbeing. We were thrilled to welcome Sal’s Shoes’ founder and Caterham parent Camilla Bowry to Speech Day 2021 as our guest of honour.

Prep Eco Warriors A Voice for Younger Pupils The Eco-Warrior Club has met continuously across the last year, sometimes in person and other times virtually, but never losing sight of their shared endeavour. The group earned a Bronze and Silver award from the Eco-School Scheme and has their eyes set on the Distinction award in 2022.

The Eco Warriors span the age range in Prep and have given a voice to the younger pupils with a junior green team consisting of two members of each class.

The junior green team are working with Mrs. Deale to remind their classmates (and their teachers) to turn off lights, pick up litter and put the correct litter into the correct bins and other everyday eco-friendly things.

The Warriors have managed to get their hot compost bin up and running and all the children in the Prep School now know to place their fruit peels and cores into a special food waste bin which then goes into our hot compost bin.

The Eco-warriors ran an audit last year of the single-use plastic around them in school. With the results of the audit the team wrote letters to companies that made the single-use plastic and asked if they could consider making more sustainable packaging. Many companies wrote back explaining their plans to use more sustainable packaging. The children even wrote to their local MP and told her about the results of the audit.

COP26 – ready for the debate Through the first half of the Autumn Term the Eco Warriors presented assemblies about COP26 and plan to follow this closely on our return to school after the half term break. Ready to go are a team of children who keen to debate certain aspects of the conference with their class-mates. Each teacher has also been given ideas of projects relevant to COP26 that they can discuss in form times to keep the whole school engaged with the challenge and possibilities.

BEE HAPPY Caterham School is home to three beehives, and the staff and pupil beekeeping team who tend them. Sixth Form members of the Green Committee, under the leadership of Mr Tyldesly, Dr Soltysiak and Mrs Brown, take the lead on looking after and monitoring the hives. Monitoring the hives provides significant learning about how weather and climate conditions affect the behaviour and health of the hives. To see the team in action click on the video below – and for live updates on their quest for healthy hives and honey follow the @caterhamschoolbeekeepers on Instagram.

Click to play video

OLD PARK WOODS Old Park Woods was secured by Caterham School in 2015, removing the decades-long threat of commercial development of the land which includes relatively newly grown areas and ancient woodland. The woods now host the school’s own Forest School and regular outdoor learning lessons for both prep and senior school pupils.

In summer 2021, Sixth Form pupils and staff volunteers welcomed children from local primary schools as they enjoyed a day in the woods exploring the school’s obstacle and high ropes course amid much laughter and smiles. For many their rite of passage Year 6 outdoor adventure trips had been cancelled due to Covid-19 so fun in Old Park Woods was a welcome escapade!

Join in - Caterham Connected Woodland Walk Parents (current and former), alumni and friends of the school are welcome to join our regular guided woodland walks, followed by tea, coffee and cake back at school. The next Woodland Walk takes place on Friday 12 November at 10am departing from the front of the main school building. .

Ash Dieback Ash Dieback is affecting woodlands across the country and it is estimated that the fungus will kill around 80 per cent of ash trees in the UK (The Woodland Trust). The introduction of Ash dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) to Europe occurred about 30 years ago has devastated the European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) because our native ash species did not evolve with the fungus and therefore has no natural defence against it.

With a high proportion of ash within the School’s woodland, a survey of the trees was undertaken by the Forestry Commission in 2019 and a prioritised plan was developed following their guidance. Work to clear the affected ash started in 2020 and will continue through to late 2023 with diseased ash trees being felled but leaving and monitoring those which appear healthy.

The felling work has brought a significant amount of timber – some of which is seasoned onsite and sold on to the local community as logs or as charcoal produced onsite. Further timber has been chipped and is sent to the Kent Renewable Power Energy Biomass Plant to generate electricity.

Woodland areas which have been felled will be replanted with native trees such as oak, birch, hazel, beech and cherry. Whilst it is unfortunate that so many of our ash trees need to be removed, these works have been incorporated into our ongoing plans to regenerate the woodland and by introducing the diversity of native trees in place of the ash, will help the long-term sustainability of the woodland.

Contact Us Please get in touch if you or your child have an idea or project that will help sustain our environment for the good. All ideas and suggestions are welcome.

Email: enquiries@caterhamschool.co.uk