Schools all over the country are trying to be more eco-friendly, but how does it work in practice? Friends of Burhill Primary School member Charlotte O’Farrell shares her success story
Going green G
oing green had been on the cards for a while – no one was surprised when it came up at a meeting [of
Friends of Burhill Primary School, Hersham, Surrey (616 pupils)] three years ago. Once we got started, it was clear that any changes we introduced wouldn’t be restricted to just our PTA or to a particular activity. We didn’t see things like that, and we didn’t want the children to either. We wanted the kids to learn, understand and take the message into their adult lives.
In the beginning A group of like-minded people got
together and began by putting the recycling logo on event fl yers, organising a school litter pick and making sure the recycling bins were being used correctly. These were easy wins that encouraged us to do more. We kept talking to all the stakeholders – teachers, pupils and governors – to show them that change was possible, it could happen and that we were a reliable support.
Finding change We get lots of ideas from PTA
Facebook groups such as Zero Waste PTA, but we often fi nd that people think you have to swap like-for-like rather than change completely. You
can swap a plastic goody bag for a paper one, but you don’t really need a bag at all – a book with a sweet taped to it does the job just as well. It can be tricky to get people on
board. Last year we said we weren’t going to pay for Christmas crackers for the school but parents thought the children would be disappointed. There’s often an emotional argument against change, which is justifi ed. But children can be part of the change by accepting that some things must be done differently. In the end, we bought recyclable, biodegradable crackers, but this year we will approach the issue again. At our school sports day, pupils
compete in teams wearing different colours, but families were often
Children build bug hotels; above: the ‘Burhill Bees’
panic-buying T-shirts. Being aware of the overconsumption of clothes, we felt we had to do something, so we bought coloured bibs for the children to wear over their PE kit. This one bulk buy has saved hundreds of unnecessary individual purchases this year and will do for many years to come. On World Book Day parents often
worry about their child’s fancy dress being good enough. We encouraged them not to buy new clothes, but to borrow or work with what they had. These types of events are stressful for parents, as is consumerism overall, so we have to hammer the message home that it’s ok to take
10 SUMMER 2020
pta.co.uk
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