ECO Committee And Our Connection To Caritas
“I will point to the intimate relationship between the poor and the fragility of the planet, that everything is connected and the proposal of a new lifestyle”.
– (Laudato Si’ #16).
Laudato Si’
A renewed commitment to hear the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth
In his encyclical letter, Pope Francis calls the Church, decision-makers and all people of goodwill to acknowledge the urgency of our environmental challenge. The poorer areas of the world are particularly vulnerable to environmental degradation and their populations bear the brunt of its effects.
Caritas recognises some of the biggest social and environmental problems facing us: widespread pollution, climate change, migration, food insecurity, poverty and inequality and an over-reliance on technological change for solutions.
Catholic Social Teaching instills in us a need to do more for those in the world which we share. It is for this reason that we now have an Eco Committee here at school.
Our Eco Committee are committed to doing their bit and in turn educating those around them. Thus far, they have shared their ideas and aspirations for the school, some of which we have already implemented. The council provided us with some food bins, which the children now take in turns in emptying. The committee set up and run 'free fruit and milk Friday's', which is proving popular with our parents. The committee take it in turns to spend time on the infant playground and in infant classes, educating them on the need to recycle. Looking forward, the committee are looking forward to helping the Early Years children plant their bulbs and meeting a member of the Caritas team to discuss how we can further improve our school.
Eco Committee 2023-2024
Our Eco Committee for 2023-2024
3E 3K 4B 4G
Cruz Egenti Adam Mady Maihem Luff Marie Kimbu
Lola Kashaya Claudia Sissons Parker Hutchinson Alfie Reynolds
5W 5M 6V 6K
Isabella Moreno-Moretti Emily Aguiar Amelie Britton Hanna Makowska
Charlie Parker Noah Muncey Victor Alhassan Yulian Fraboni
Early Years Education Session
During the last week of the Autumn Term, the ECO Committee joined Early Years to talk all things plants. They helped teach the EY children the different parts of plants, what they need to help them grow and how to look after them. They then took them outside in small groups to plant bulbs. As a bit of added Christmas fun, the ECO committee though it would be nice to recycle lollipop sticks to make reindeer. Both the ECO Committee and the Early Years children had great fun!
National Recycling Week
On the 18-22nd September we celebrated National Recycling Week. Each day the children had different topics to discuss during registration and we focused as many class activities around recycling as we could. On the Friday, Miss Dudley held and assembly and announced some very exciting news; we have a brand new Recycling Hub.
National Tree Week 2023
Monday 27th November –Tuesday 5th December was National Tree Week. The Eco committee delivered a wonderful assembly to the children explaining the benefits of trees to our world. They also helped hand out leaflets to the parents detailing Rushmoors' new initiative.
To celebrate National Tree Week, Rushmoor Borough Council are giving away 2 free trees to every household. Click the link to get your Free Trees.
St Joseph's Recycling Hub
On Friday 22nd September we were joined by our local Councillor Becky Williams to open the St Joseph's Recycling Hub. The Recycling Hub is open to use by everyone within our school community. We are now a collection point for:
- Soft Plastic
- Used Pencils
- Empty Glue Sticks
- Postage Stamps
- Yogurt pots
Eco Committee 2022-2023
Our Visit with Caritas
The school committee met with Zach Herford, the Project Officer at Caritas, to discuss what we are already achieving here at school and how Caritas can support us on what is yet to come. Watch this space!
Food Bins
One of the childrens' suggestions was to add food waste bins to our playgrounds. The local council supported this decisions and provided us with the food waste bins. As part of their discussions, the children decided to move the location of the playground bins to make them more accessble and increase the likelihood of their success. The children helped with the implementation by being present of both infant and junior playgrounds and showing the children the new bins and what can go in them. So far they have been a huge success. The childrens dedication is true to their beliefs, as they now also collect and empty the food waste bins.
Education Sessions
The children have delivered 3 education sessions this year to our younger students, in Early Years, Year 1 and Year 2.
Early Years: Bulb Planting
The Eco Committee helped the children plant bulbs and spoke to them about what they needed to do to help look after their bulbs. They also completed multiple plant related craft activities with the children.
Year 1: Minibeasts
The Eco committee split into two groups. Half the class went around the school looking for different minibeasts. They searched in different habitats and collected what they found. The other half remained in the class and played matching games and learnt about the different habitats we might find minibeasts in. The class then came together to draw the different minibeasts in the habitats they were found.
Year 2: Lifycycles
The Eco Committee taught the children about the lifecycle of frogs and butterflies and then compared the two. The children had an afternoon of different activities led by the Eco Committee involving, matching, cutting, drawing and videos of the two different processes.
Free Fruit and Milk Friday
The children were concerned over the amount of fruit and milk that was not being consumed within the school week. They started putting it onto the playgrounds for children to access more easily, but decided they needed to do something more. The children now put any fruit and milk at risk of going bad, onto a stall on a Friday afternoon. They promote this to parents and encourage parents and children to either take some loose fruit or milk home with them. Just a small way we can help reduce food waste.
Updated: September 2023