Eco Day 2022

What a wonderful day we had, full of fabulous activities and learning around the environment. The children came dressed in a wonderful array of outfits, and Greta Thunberg, Jane Goodall and Sir David Attenborough were very much around the school. We were very excited to draw the raffle winners and thank Mrs Barchiesi for her generous donation.

The raffle alone raised an impressive £494.58!

We started off the day with an informative assembly from Dorset Waste partnership, talking about what happens to our waste and ways in which we can reduce the amount of waste that we create.

We also had Sarah Wise from DEED leading a workshop in single use plastic and she got us to think about the 5 Rs – Reuse, Refill, Repair, Recharge, Recycle – and changes we can make in our everyday lives. Jack Fazey, who works with all types of wood and ‘keeps ancient crafts alive’ worked with some of the pupils finding out about native trees and what can be created with wood and bark. They made marvellous string using rushes and were buzzing with enthusiasm.

It was so lovely to see Year 4 heading out to identify trees around the site using their identification wheels. Year 3 lead the way with using old milk cartons to create beautiful moths, linked to a book all about the need to protect them. The Year 6s thought about where their food comes from and had the challenge of calculating air miles, which really made them think.

Mr Hill and Mr Hayes explained the composting process that they have at Yarrells and they saw the wormery in action. It was great for the children to understand the importance of composting and hopefully encourage them to talk to you about it at home. 

Year 6 also undertook a study for the British Ornithologist Society, boring into the ground to identify invertebrates under the ground to help understand the dwindling bird populations. Mr Hill had the children finding out about the different soil types and engaged them really well; they were all keen to have a go at boring into the ground!

In dance, Squirrels enjoyed dancing to a song called Save our Planet and Year 3 explored creative movement using the themes of Protect our Nature and Revive our Oceans. We talked about how their movements could be written down in storytelling.

I must thank the Eco Committee for their passion and enthusiasm to help organise and inspire us for the learning today.

We will be meeting next week to find out which animals we would like to adopt to support the work of the WWF. We have also raised well beyond what was anticipated, so we will be discussing other environmental concerns that we can support.

I will leave you with a quote that is really very true:

"No one is too small to make a difference"

Greta Thunberg