SAVING THE PLANET, ONE UNIFORM AT A TIME

by Jan Mintram

This year our school commitment to sustainability has been strengthened by a group of Year 5 children who competed in a Trust wide Junior Dragon’s Den competition to make an impact in their local community.

Taking into account the financial challenge that many of our families experience with buying school uniform, they decided to set up their own action group appropriately named ‘Uniform United’.

Their pledge focused on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Equality: Every child needs to have access to a full school uniform that fits correctly.

Diversity: No matter what their background.

Inclusion: Leave no child feeling le out or different.

They actively campaigned at the school gates with placards asking for donations from parents, posted adverts in our newsletter and on social media and also set a date for the successful ‘Y6 donation day’. This was the last day for our Y6 leavers, who were allowed to wear their own clothes to school if they donated unneeded uniform, prior to starting secondary school.

They decided not only to collect outgrown uniform but also to “rescue, repair and recycle” any uniform that would otherwise be needlessly thrown away.

After successfully gathering uniform, Uniform United held swap shops where families could take any uniform free of charge, whilst being encouraged to donate ‘swapped’ uniform. In their first swap shop, over 200 pieces of uniform were given out – a tremendous success but it doesn’t stop there.

Uniform United recognised that many families were discarding uniform because buttons had fallen off blazers or shirts or because skirts and trousers had become too short.Being part of Haberdashers’ Academies Trust South and understanding the Haberdashery traditions, they encouraged staff to support them in learning to sew. This then enabled them to repair some uniform donations and they’ve also convinced us to change the curriculum so that every child can at least sew a button on before they go to secondary school!

Their hard work and effort led to their winning of the Dragon’s Den competition but more importantly has developed a culture within school where it has become the norm to rescue, repair and recycle school uniform, reduce the financial burden on families and eradicate the stigma of wearing second hand uniform, whilst tackling the environmental challenges for a sustainable future.

habssladegreenprimary.org.uk