Wardle High Schools - Go Green

Wardle High Schools - Go Green

Wardle High Schools Go Green Group have been busy collecting ideas for this year’s Go Green Week by visiting Rochdale Eco Schools Conference on October 16 2012.

The conference in Rochdale Town Hall aimed to celebrate the eco work done by schools in the borough and gave students an opportunity to learn and share their ideas.

The group, which on the day consisted of 4 Year 11 students and 4 Year 7 students created a stall that promoted the Go Green Week which was held in school in February.
The week aimed to create awareness of climate change, encourage students to launch Going Greener projects for themselves, and reflect upon how others elsewhere in the world are able to benefit from our efforts.

Wardle High School’s Green Week began with a Meat Free Monday, with the aim of raising awareness of the effects of animal methane and global warming. Students were provided with meat free alternatives for their lunch.

Students were also encouraged to ‘Come Veg With Me’ and asked to bring in a potato so that they could be planted and once they grow, the students will receive the crop! Other activities included Travel Light Tuesday, which encouraged the use of public transport, walking and car shares and a bun sale.

Wednesday was ‘Zero Waste Wednesday’, during which there was an inter-school competition for which House could collect the most paper to recycle. ‘Switch Off Thursday’ also meant that each department had to try to reduce their energy usage.
Throughout the week, students were also asked to donate 10 aluminium cans and those who did were rewarded by watching a film at the ‘Cans Film Festival’ in school.
On the Friday, students were granted a non-uniform day, with the promise that they would wear a green item of clothing and donate £1. This event raised £842, which was donated to the charity supporting Vibeke Kristensen-White, a former student, who had volunteered to go to India to work with partially sighted children.

Whilst at Rochdale Eco Schools Conference, the students took part in two workshops. In the morning they took part in the Touchstones Fair-trade Fantastic Workshop which involved looking at Fair Trade through different activities and games using Fair-trade chocolate and fruit. In the afternoon they took part in a B&Q Apple Birdfeeders Workshop. This involved students making their own bird house out of Forrest Friendly Timber.

Marhaba Rani-Hanif, Year 11 who went to the conference said: “It was a great and educational day. There were lots of entertainment and Laughs.”

Anam Hussain, also Year 11 said “I had a great day and we got loads of ideas for our Go Green Week.”

The event ended with a performance from Australian singer Luc Floreani and a fantastic fashion show which featured clothes made from recycled materials. This has encouraged our group to create their own clothes for a recycled theme fashion show next year. Watch this space!