RGS Earthshot Insights

RGS EARTHSHOT INSIGHTS Autumn 2023 encourage students to bring reusable containers, water bottles and coffee cups with lids to school to minimise the waste created by single use boxes, bottles and cups. Students who participated were rewarded with stamps to be exchanged for a cookie. Thank you to RGS caterers, Chartwell Independent who supported this campaign. RGS’ Marketing team helped the initiative, launching branded eco-friendly coffee cups and water bottles that could be used by students, staff and parents. These are now available around the school site.

Eco Schools Green Flag Award In September, Reigate Grammar School received the Eco Schools’ Green Flag Award for its dedication to sustainability and educating students about the environment.

Under a recently appointed Sustainability Lead, our Lower Sixth Form spent the spring term on their leadership skills in a bid to be elected Eco Senior Prefects. Students have been developing individual Action Plans based on one of the following criteria linked to the Eco Schools Award. This has included looking at energy consumption and how to encourage our school community to conserve valuable resources. Students have created campaigns to highlight the importance of recycling and have joined forces with the Outdoor Education team to form a new gardening club.

Since 1994, millions of young people worldwide have participated in the Eco-Schools program, and they have been acknowledged for their dedication with the esteemed Eco Schools Green Flag.

We are excited to be a part of this incredible movement, having earned a Green Flag with Merit. In the process, we have been educating and engaging our students to drive positive change, not just for themselves but also for their community and the global environment. Our next goal is to work towards the Distinction award, demonstrating our commitment to extending our impact beyond the school grounds.

To earn this award, students and staff had to detail the measures they have taken to promote environmental awareness, as well as outline the events and activities they have organised. We conducted a whole school eco audit to identify our strengths and identify areas for improvement. Students collected evidence of their individual eco leadership projects.

Future Leaders RGS is proud to have its own RGS Earthshot Council, a team run by elected members of the Sixth Form with a committee that is open to all students and staff. The RGS Earthshot Council encourages students to make changes both in school and at home to improve their impact on the environment.

Eco Prefects worked alongside the RGS Earthshot Student Council to launch a Love Your Future campaign, an initiative to

In the student leadership process, students have the chance to cultivate a diverse range of skills, encompassing setting visionary goals, formulating effective action plans, raising awareness through marketing, and taking the lead in organizing assemblies for all year groups. These opportunities not only foster skill development but also empower and grant agency to the students, making it

a distinctive and transformative experience. We are actively exploring the expansion of leadership opportunities to encompass more year groups in the coming year.

RGS Earthshot Lecture Series and Competitions The RGS Earthshot Council was relaunched in 2021 by our former Head Boy and Girl who sought to improve engagement throughout the school by combining forces with the existing eco committee. They spearheaded the first RGS Earthshot competition to design the best use of an item which could have been thrown away, encouraging everyone to think about what they throw away and transform old unwanted items into new creations. The RGS Earthshot Lecture Series was launched with huge success, with over 100 attendees from RGS and a range of local schools attending a talk led by Reigatian and former Head Boy Simon Virley, who spoke about renewable energy and our impact on our environment.

The second RGS Earthshot lecture was a great success with Claire Sammons-Evans, Sustainability Lead at The Prevented Ocean Plastic Research Centre in London, speaking on Revive Our Oceans: The value of plastic and how the Prevented Ocean Plastic programme is more than just a global cleanup operation.

Commitment to Reducing Waste We are teaming up with Chartwells Independent to cut down on single-use items in our canteens and cafeterias, like takeaway boxes and cups, significantly reducing landfill waste. The Sixth Form Café has gone plastic-free, encouraging reusable bottles. Our goal is a single-use item-free school, with the support of staff and students.

Our Estates team, in collaboration with Grundon, is reducing the school’s carbon footprint. Grundon converts landfill waste into renewable energy via the EfW scheme. Recyclables are sorted, and any unrecyclable waste goes into the EfW scheme. Food waste is separated and sent to Grundon for fertiliser and natural gas production. We have added new bins for landfill, recycling, and food waste, with student-made signs promoting responsible waste separation.

Climate Action Plan for a Greener School and Community As part of a school wide commitment to decreasing our carbon footprint, Reigate Grammar School has an ongoing programme to reduce energy consumption, and hence CO2 emissions. This year’s projects have included: ♲ Installing double glazing and a new lobby in the Cornwallis Building ♲ Upgrading double glazing in the Leckhampstead West building ♲ Reducing boiler running hours by an average of two hours per day on weekdays ♲ Prioritising the energy efficient Harrison Centre for events, while avoiding less efficient buildings ♲ Launching an energy awareness programme to minimise non-essential use such as lighting.

We’re also excited to collaborate with the local community to enhance nature engagement and community service in support of our Outreach Projects. Stay tuned for upcoming events!

In April we welcomed Klaus Dodds who spoke about the future of Antarctica as a geo-political space with far ranging implications.

These events have huge educational impact on our students, parents, staff and a whole host of students from local state schools who will be invited to join us at RGS. Combating Fast Fashion Watch out for a talk on Sustainable Fashion and the impact of fast fashion this autumn when we host our Sixth Form and Parents Swishing Event.

This follows a successful whole school Swish in the autumn term of 2022 and the original lunchtime event in the spring term of 2020. Last year over 600 items were swapped with over 100 students involved, all in the presence of a student led band who performed songs such ‘Swish and Shout’. The leftover clothes were delivered to local charity shops and a Ukranian support charity.

The RGS Earthshot team are commited to continuing this event to steer people away from a key environmental problem and provide parents and students an opportunity for some ethical retail therapy.

If you know of anybody who might be interested in contributing to our event this year through delivering a short lecture, organising the clothes or even appearing on our pre-loved fashion catwalk show, then please get in touch. envelope Email Us

A Wilder School!

Laura from Surrey Wildlife Trust’s Wilder Team collaborated with a select group of Third Form students to enhance the school’s wildlife habitat and educate the broader school community about supporting wildlife at home and in the local area. After meeting the group, Sarah led an assembly for the entire Third Form and held a workshop with the elective students. They presented their concept for a wildlife garden and other campus improvements to the Estates Team, resulting in the creation of the Wildlife Hub. This space on the school campus is designed with wildlife in mind, providing a place for students to reconnect with nature.

Follow the team’s progress

external-link A Wilder School

Achieving the Eco-Schools’ Green Flag is a major step in addressing the climate crisis, inspiring others to join the sustainability movement and transform our planet’s future. We’re excited to keep making a positive difference in our local and global community and invite the entire school community to join us.

Contact us if you’d like to get involved!

Kate Cooper Sustainability Lead external-link How big is your environmental footprint external-link How to contribute to a more sustainable future