Part of our school vision is to play our part in building a sustainable future. At Combe CE Primary School we strive to help our pupils learn about the world and that what they do to care for the earth and its inhabitants matter..

We accept our responsibility to maintain a sustainable environment for future generations and aim to:

  • Every pupil can participate in making Combe CE Primary an eco-friendly and sustainable community.
  • Develop children’s awareness, understanding and respect for the environments they live in and secure their commitment to sustainable development at a personal, national and global level.
  • Enable children to be positive citizens in society
  • Pupils can learn about and decide on the priorities for our school.
  • All pupils, staff and visitors to our school sense and follow our Eco-Code which is fundamental to our school ethos.
  • Monitor, measure and reduce the environmental impact of the following:
    • Transport
    • Water use
    • Waste
    • Energy
    • Procurement

This year our focus is on the following initiatives.

Green Schools Project

Swallows Class are taking part in the ‘Green Schools Project’, which educates pupils about ways to reduce carbon. As part of the project, we have calculated our school’s carbon footprint, which is around 55 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. The pupils work in groups on projects to reduce our carbon emissions. Previous projects were:

  1. A tuck shop promoting vegan food to reduce the use of dairy
  2. Encouraging pupils to reduce food waste at lunchtime
  3. Using up leftover fruit to make smoothies and juices
  4. A tuck shop reducing food miles using local ingredients
  5. Reducing electricity usage through ‘low electricity days’

Eco Council

We have an Eco Council, who are working on projects to care for the environment, including by promoting eco-diversity and to reduce the school’s carbon footprint. During this academic year, they have established composting on the school grounds, planted a wildflower meadow and have begun to collect monthly water samples from the Evenlode River as part of the ‘FreshWater Watch’ project.

Gardening and Growing

Next to our KS2 building we have a school garden. The area has:

  • a pond
  • a greenhouse
  • plenty of grass
  • raised beds for growing vegetables
  • insect hotels
  • seating areas
  • sheds.

We believe it is extremely important to learn about food production and living a sustainable life. You can find more information on what we have been growing on our ‘Outdoor Learning’ page.

Improving the School Buildings

We are working to reduce our carbon footprint through upgrading our lighting to LED lighting across the school buildings and replacing old inefficient storage heaters for newer more energy efficient models.