The Eco-Team
The Eco-Team was formed in 2007 to promote recycling and to help the children think about the impact our lifestyle has on the environment.
A group of pupils led by Mrs Openshaw (one of our Governors), some of the teaching staff and Mrs Hayward (a parent) met on Fridays after school.
The Eco-Team 2007/2008 proudly displaying their produce.
Watch this space to see how our Eco projects develop!
Clothing Recycling
More than three years ago Mrs Pritchard set up a scheme to raise funds for the
school by recycling old shoes. This has recently been extended and we now have a large
metal bin which is situated at the side of the school next to the rear staff car park.
Security gates mean that the bin is only accessible during the school opening hours
but feel free to donate shoes, clothing and textiles during that time.
Autumn 2009 The Eco-Team and garden club met for the first time on Tuesday 2 November 2009. The children, parents and teachers were very busy weeding the new House Gardens whilst looking for the biggest worm! 
The team are now planning a competition for the House Gardens, more details will follow shortly.
We would like to thank 'Kings' for their very generous donation of seeds, which we will be planting in these gardens, looking forward to fantastic displays in the spring and summer terms.
Summer term 2009
The children have had a very busy summer so far, gardening, making posters to encourage everyone to save energy and growing 'cress hair'!
We are now busily planning some exiting activities for open evening on Thursday 2nd July. Please come and join in the fun outside Miss Clouting's classroom from 6.00pm.
We interviewed Hannah Masterman in 4E who told us ...
'Mrs Salisbury found some butterfly eggs on a plant in front of the pergola and took a photo.
There were quite a few of them. They were very tiny and bright orange. I have looked at them to see if they have changed and so far they haven't but I will check again and try and get another picture if I can.'
Mascot Competition Results!
Winning Name -Radish
With the money raised from the Scarecrow Competition the Eco Team have purchased a red geranium for each class to care for. The team were were keen to purchase a red flowering plant to link in with comic relief. Once the plants are fully established we will plant them out in the school gardens. The remainder of funds raised by this competition will be donated to comic relief.
Eco Team News February 2009
The Eco team have been meeting regularly to discuss ways in which we can improve our school grounds and help the environment. Thank you to all the children who have supported us by posting suggestions in our post box. Please continue to share your ideas with us by talking to your class representative or by posting a letter into the post box (which can be found on the Eco team table in the shared area).
Autumn Term 2008
The eco-team aims to be helpful and friendly to the environment by making our school an attractive place.
We aim to do this by keeping our school grounds tidy, planting and maintaining plants and looking after the wildlife.
The eco-team are working closely with the church to encourage everyone to think about the environment.
Mrs Andrews who is an HLTA at the school and a member of St Mary's Church congregation has organised an event for advent, a letter about which follows:
Can you rise to the challenge?
Well, the congregation at St. Mary’s Church and the staff and pupils at St. Mary’s School are rising to the challenge to recycle and be “green” for the first week of Advent and to sponsor themselves for their efforts.
As part of their initiative to become an Eco-school and an Eco-congregation they have joined forces to demonstrate that they can “act locally and think globally”. Through our recycling we are looking after our local environment and the money raised will be donated to WaterAid.
WaterAid is a charity which provides clean water and sanitation to some of the world’s poorest people. Many people in the developing world walk many miles each day to collect water which is often polluted. This means that they have very little water to drink and to prepare food, no sanitation and no water to irrigate crops. Just a single water pump can change the lives of a whole village.
At school the pupils are finding imaginative ways to be eco-friendly; they are recycling tins, plastic, newspaper, turning the TV off standby, turning their Xbox/Playstation off standby, turning off unnecessary lights and even walking instead of taking the car. Each time they are sponsoring themselves a few pence. They are bringing their money into school where it is being collected in a very unusual money box – a brand new toilet with a specially made lid! Their motto is “Spend a penny in the toilet for WaterAid”. The School Eco-Team, a group of pupils, were the first to put some pennies in the toilet during a very thought provoking (and entertaining) assembly.
The Eco-Team 'Spending a penny for Water Aid'
The Core Value for December is Responsibility. We are being responsible for looking after our environment, caring for people throughout the world and the Eco-Team will be responsible for handing out WaterAid stickers to children when they bring in their donations.
The Church members are collecting their money in recycled drink bottles. These were handed out in Church on Sunday following a presentation about the challenge. The Sunday Morning Club performed a drama to help the congregation imagine what life would be like without clean water. After the service refreshments were served along with cakes and biscuits decorated with a “watery” theme.
Everyone is very enthusiastic and we hope our efforts will provide hope for people who are otherwise in desperately poor living conditions.
Mrs B Andrews
We raised £1034 which we donated to Water Aid 
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