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SEND | Our Green School | Staff | Breakfast & After School Care | Pupil Voice |Ofsted| Challenge Partners
Attainment & Progress | Transition | Vacancies |
Community Links | Archive Project
OUR GREEN SCHOOL
We want every child to leave Dulwich Hamlet Junior School with a real awareness of the local, national and global environment and how each one can make a real difference to the quality of the environment for everyone. Within our curriculum, we weave in connected environmental topics to different areas of learning to highlight the importance of protecting our planet, including recycling and reducing waste, protecting animal’s habitats, saving energy and more.
Eco Council
Children apply to be members of the Eco Council in Y5 and they are responsible for the school’s Eco priority and other one-off events.
This may include:
Eco Council
Children apply to be members of the Eco Council in Y5 and they are responsible for the school’s Eco priority and other one-off events.
This may include:
- Writing Action Plans
- Carrying out research
- Environmental Activism
- Communicating ideas and messages
- Liaising with other stakeholders such as teachers/ parents
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Eco Council Members: Y3: Zalie, Serena & Abigail Y4: Antonia, Isabel, Eva & Zoe Y5: Mia, Nico & Bethan Y6: Cydney, Amelie, Beatrix & Leo |
Eco Council 2022-23
This Year, our enthusiastic Eco Council members have gotten off to a flying start. They have analysed the 10 Eco-School topics to help us understand what environmental work our school is already doing, ranging from recycling our plastic pens, composting our food waste and building knowledge on environmentalism, sustainability and climate change increasingly into our curriculum. For example, looking at the human impact on habitats, including deforestation, in Science, studying the impact of plastics on our rivers and ocean in Geography, and creating poetry inspired by both nature and environmentalists in English. However, there is always more we can do and our Eco Council have tonnes of energy and enthusiasm for the year ahead!
Most recently, our Eco Council put together an action plan to help us manage actions for 3 Eco-School topics of our choice, which they will work on during the school year. Our action areas are: energy, water and waste. The children want to focus on saving electricity and looking at reusable sources of energy. We’d like to check children have a good understanding of why it is important to save water and to consider installing a water butt on site. Lastly, we want to investigate further recycling options and create a monitoring system to ensure we’re doing our best here. Keep your eyes peeled for the changes we make as our year progresses!
Terracycle Programme March 2022
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DHJS Eco Council have been busy reminding our school community the importance of recycling waste where we can. The last two terms, classes have been collecting used pens. This week, we collected these from around the school and delivered them to our local Terracycle Pen Point. From here, they will be part of the Terra Cycle Writing 
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Instruments Recycling Programme.
Once collected, the writing instruments are separated by material composition, cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remoulded to make new recycled products. Thank you to Alleyn’s School for supporting us to recycle our pens at their pen drop-off point! |
DHJS at Speak Up for the Climate Event October 2021
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On Saturday 9th October, our Eco Council shared their ideas, opinions and demands to make London Carbon Zero by 2030. The event, Speak Up for the Climate, was attended by members of the local community and key figures involved in campaigning to stop climate change from the Dulwich and West Norwood Climate Coalition. The children shared speeches with the audience, which included lead councillors and cabinet members of Southwark and Lambeth council. They then posed important and challenging questions to the experts demanding change to reduce the air pollution levels affecting children in London each day. The children spoke with such passion, knowledge and determination about a topic that will impact their future if change doesn’t happen now.
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Miss Harris was incredibly proud of their speeches, which caused ‘whoops’ and ‘cheers’ from the audience. Hearing the children’s explanations and anecdotes about how their lives are already impacted by climate change, and the understandable anger yet clear motivation they have to educate others and demand policy-level change was commendable. They have already personally engaged in shaping a low carbon London, and we can’t wait to see what they do in the future!
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Read below for an example speech that Willow (4O) read to the audience.
Hello. My name is Willow and these are my friends. I go to Dulwich Hamlet Junior School [DHJS for short.]. Here at DHJS, we try our best to stay eco-friendly and that is why we are up here today. We were lucky enough to be chosen for the eco-council, because we want to make a change. But let's stop blabbering and get to the point.
The U.K is the first major nation to make a pledge to cut carbon emissions to basically zero by just over 30 years. As well as clearing devastating fumes, the scheme- according to some experts on climate change-will also have surprising but great effects for the whole population as one.
Hello. My name is Willow and these are my friends. I go to Dulwich Hamlet Junior School [DHJS for short.]. Here at DHJS, we try our best to stay eco-friendly and that is why we are up here today. We were lucky enough to be chosen for the eco-council, because we want to make a change. But let's stop blabbering and get to the point.
The U.K is the first major nation to make a pledge to cut carbon emissions to basically zero by just over 30 years. As well as clearing devastating fumes, the scheme- according to some experts on climate change-will also have surprising but great effects for the whole population as one.
BECOMING CARBON ZERO
There are already non-carbon alternatives we can turn to, including solar and wind power. If we plant more trees, they will absorb the harmful gasses in the air, making the carbon zero expectation easier to reach. Experts say that even if 25% of the land was planted with trees, it still wouldn’t be enough!
Even if we plant more trees we still wouldn't have reached carbon zero, because we still wouldn’t have stopped cars, trains, buses and taxis driving about. The eco-council had a few ideas. Here they are.
If we don’t do anything about this soon, there will be devastating consequences. Like people say, “There's no PLANET B!”
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better, it’s not”
The Lorax, by Dr.Seuss
There are already non-carbon alternatives we can turn to, including solar and wind power. If we plant more trees, they will absorb the harmful gasses in the air, making the carbon zero expectation easier to reach. Experts say that even if 25% of the land was planted with trees, it still wouldn’t be enough!
Even if we plant more trees we still wouldn't have reached carbon zero, because we still wouldn’t have stopped cars, trains, buses and taxis driving about. The eco-council had a few ideas. Here they are.
- No.1 We could up the prices in petrol cars and down the prices in electric cars
- No.2 If we do the one above, we could put more refills for electric cars everywhere
- No.3 We could make sure the whole population knows about quiet ways [‘cause I only learnt about them on Monday, and I’ve lived in London my whole life!]
- No.4 Bicycle and scooter prices could go down [a lot] so more people have that alternative if they can’t drive or get train, bus or taxi
- No.5 We could put air filters inside places like schools, nurseries, places of work and leisure centres, but mostly just around busy cities
- No.6 For drop off and pick up [and only at drop off and pick up] we could close the roads around schools
If we don’t do anything about this soon, there will be devastating consequences. Like people say, “There's no PLANET B!”
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better, it’s not”
The Lorax, by Dr.Seuss
Plastic Free School 2021
Plastic-Free Schools The Eco Council have held Trash mobs and analysed the litter content in and around our school. Over 100 children wrote letters to big businesses challenging them to reduce their plastic waste and come up with more environmentally friendly ways to wrap their edible items. We have had responses from big companies including Cadbury and Walkers. Our Eco Council members have targeted campaigning at the government, writing and sharing an impassioned speech at local climate conferences, and receiving a positive and motivated response from our local MP Helen Hayes.
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In order to reduce our school’s plastic waste, children came up with key areas to target and finally came up with specific whole school rules we now follow. |
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Our Plastic-Free Rules:
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Use refillable water bottles only at school. |
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Provide waste-free snacks or those with recyclable packaging in lunchboxes. |
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Use reusable facemasks. |
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Recycle all whiteboard pens, highlighters, felt tips, biros and handwriting pens. |
We did it! In May 2021, DHJS were approved as a ‘Plastic Free School’ by Surfers Against Sewage. We are very proud of our school community, especially the Eco Council, who campaigned incredibly hard to remove 3 plastic items from our day-to-day use in school. However, the work doesn’t stop here. Our Eco Council will continue to hold trash mobs in and around the school grounds each year, and will continue to develop action plans and campaigns to create an increasingly environmentally friendly school.
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The Garden We are incredibly lucky to have a beautiful garden for children to explore and discover, including trees, ponds and an expansive bug hotel built by the children. Here, the children grow flowers and vegetables and have been awarded The Queen Elizabeth Cup for the Best School Garden by the London Children’s Flower Society. |