Sustainability

At Henry Cavendish, we recognise the importance of becoming a sustainable school for the benefit of the planet’s environmental health. We aim to manage resources efficiently and integrate sustainable practices by educating and motivating the whole school community to live more sustainably. The children are very aware of the need to recycle and conserve energy and play an active role within the school. Our Eco Action Team (link below) is made up of pupils, parents, staff, governors and community representatives) is working hard to renew the prestigious Green Flag Award for Eco Schools, which we achieved in 2011 and we achieved it once again in 2018. We have previously received the Bronze Award in 2007 and the Silver Award in 2009.

Solar Panels at Henry Cavendish

At both our Balham and Streatham sites we are proud to have a set of solar panels which contribute to reducing our footprint on the environment.  At Balham, the panels are a shared community responsibility, jointly purchased with the Hyde Farm Action Network while the school has sole responsibility for the panels at Streatham. One of our proudest ‘green’ achievements, these panels provide a sustainable solution to improving our environmental performance.

We aim to:

• Improve the health of the school’s pupils, staff and the environment.

As a Healthy and PE mark school, we have a large focus on wellbeing and healthy living. We place a great emphasis on providing opportunities for children to take part in activities which promote healthy living, without damage to the environment. These activities include weekly swimming classes in our school pool, swimming galas, Sports weeks, a surfing project (“Get City Kids Surfing”), daily 'Run a Mile' sessions, and cycling to school through our 'Bike It' initiative.

• Manage and minimise our use of energy and water.

 As an environmentally aware school, we aim to conserve our planet’s natural resources and cut energy costs. We are continually helping pupils to educate themselves and each other to understand our impact on the planet, through lessons, assemblies and awareness raising campaigns. Eco teams on both sites carry out weekly Eco Checks to ensure that each classroom is reducing waste, recycling and conserving energy.

• Build, develop and manage sustainable school buildings and grounds.

As a school, we have a special role to play in securing the future for young people, and we understand that the best way is to “lead by example”. Our school environment serves as a rich learning resource to illustrate sustainable living. There are gardens, solar panels, motion triggered lights, water butts and forest school areas at each site.

Henry Cavendish Eco Code:

Save it, grow it, move it, we don’t want to lose it! 

2017 - 2018 focus: Plastic Pollution

For the 2017-2018 school year, the Eco Teams and Rights Respecting Rangers collaborated to initiate a whole school campaign against plastic pollution. The children named the campaign “Plastic Fantastic?” and designed activities for each age group, including recycled art, litter picks, a letter writing campaign and video animation.  Watch this space for our 2018-2019 focus!