Science into Schools

Thank you to pupils and staff who supported the Science into Schools initiative this year. 45 bags of clothes were collected - not as many as last year but still a significant contribution to our Science into Schools fund.

 

Science into Schools is a combined recycling, education and fundraising programme. It provides the highest net worth to schools looking to raise funds through textile recycling and 75% of the clothes that can be reused will go to Africa.

 

 

Year 11 pupils take part in community litter pick

Pupils from Year 11 took part in a community litter pick at lunch time today. They filled 7 bags with litter from the path between the school and the town hall car park in Cowbridge.

The time they spent litter picking will count towards their Welsh Baccalaureate Community Participation hours and also towards their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award volunteering hours.

Well done to everybody who took part. The next community litter pick will take place in November.

Go Green Day Assemblies underway

Since Monday, assemblies have been held to inform pupils about Go Green Day.

Monday started with the Year 7 assembly, Year 8 on Tuesday and below is a photograph of Year 9 presenting their assembly this morning. The Year 10 Go Green Day assembly will be held tomorrow (Thursday) and the Year 11 assembly will be held on Friday.

A Prezi presentation was shown to pupils in the assemblies. Click here to view the Prezi.

Thank you to all pupils who took part in the assemblies and to the Year 12 and 13 pupils who helped to prepare the pupils for the assemblies.

Budding journalists showcase work at Royal Welsh Show

Talented youngsters from Welsh schools were rewarded for their work at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells during the summer holiday. Congratulations to the Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils from Cowbridge Comprehensive School who won the national and international accolade of 'Young Reporters for the Environment' and received a new video camera for the school as a prize.

In a special ceremony hosted by Wales’ leading environmental charity, Keep Wales Tidy (KWT) and Natural Resources Wales on Tuesday 22 July 2014, pupils from Cowbridge School showcased their work at the world famous agricultural show.

Huw Edwards, BAFTA award winning journalist and member of YRE judging panel for 2014 said: “Young Reporters for the Environment is a great opportunity for young people in Wales to sample the world of journalism while exploring the issues that impact on Wales’ environment.”

"The winning entry from Cowbridge pupils was a good production, a well-written and delivered script, with good sound and vision, smooth editing, pertinent interviews, and a good strong environmental purpose to the video. Really excellent!"

To view the video, click here.

Young Reporters for the Environment is an international programme and competition, promoted by the Foundation of Environmental Education (FEE) and operating in 27 countries throughout the world. In Wales, the programme is managed by Keep Wales Tidy and funded by Natural Resources Wales.

YRE provides young people from the age of 11 years old, secondary school pupils, college students, youth organisations and individuals up to the age of 21 years-old with a vision of the professional world.

Young Reporters for the Environment Winners!

Congratulations to the Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils who have won the international accolade of 'Young Reporters for the Environment'.

The pupils produced a video news report on the Eco-Committee's litter pick in the local river and the surrounding area.

The year 7, 8 and 9 pupils involved were:
Connor Stratton - Presenter
Daniel Dimblebee - Editor
Nia Evans - Research and interviewing
Robert Lewis - Research and contributor
Sophie Williams - Research and interviewing
William Davies - Presenter

Click here to see the story on the Keep Wales Tidy website.

And click here to see all the other international winners on the Young Reporters for the Environment website.

The pupils will be receiving an invite to the celebration event at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells, which will be taking place on Tuesday 22nd July, where they will introduce the video news report and be presented with their prizes.

The judges were all very impressed with the video, the way it was presented, the messages, the enthusiasm of everyone involved and the quality of the video itself. They said it was an obvious winner right from the start! And way ahead of all the others!

Huw Edwards, the BBC News reader, said about the video: "Good production, well-written and delivered script, good sound and vision, smooth editing, pertinent interviews, and a good strong environmental purpose to the video. Really excellent!"

To view the video, click here.

100 bags of textiles collected for reusing and recycling

 

Thank you to pupils, parents and staff at Cowbridge Comprehensive School for bringing in bags of textiles to be swapped for science equipment for the school today. A total of 100 bags were brought in - which filled the collection van. A great success!

The school has joined the Science into Schools initiative which will enable the school to collect and swap unwanted textiles for fantastic new science equipment. By joining the scheme the school not only has the opportunity to teach its students about the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling but also to inspire them to get interested in science and engineering with some fascinating new science equipment and resources.

The programme is delivered by EDF Energy’s education programme the Pod, Wastebuster and the British Science Association. The clothes, shoes and materials collected are either reused, with 75% of the reused clothes going to Africa, or they are recycled.

The Eco-Committee were delighted with the response and would like to run the scheme again in future. They will be looking at ways to make it easier for bags to be dropped off by parents because of the difficulty of bringing bags on the school buses. Any ideas are very welcome - please speak to members of the Eco-Committee or your form's Eco-Warrior.
You can find out more about the Science into Schools project at www.scienceintoschools.org

Special CCTV news bulletin on litter

Click on the image to watch the news bulletin.

50 bags of litter collected in Cowbridge

Pupils and staff from Cowbridge Comprehensive School joined members of the community to collect 50 bags full of litter along a section of the river Thaw on Saturday (8 March 2014).

The Eco-Committee at Cowbridge School worked with Keep Wales Tidy to organise the litter pick following letters of concern by members of the public about the state of the footpath between Cowbridge School and the Town Hall car park.

Michael Walsh, a sixth former at Cowbridge Comprehensive School and chair of the School's Eco-Committee, said: "All of us on the school's Eco-Committee have been worried about the litter in the area surrounding the school and felt it was important that we organised a litter pick. We were also concerned about the effect the litter was having on the river Thaw and the wildlife in the river."


Nia Evans, a Year 7 pupil and a member of the Eco-Committee, added: "We did some research and found that litter in waterways can damage and kill wildlife. For example it can choke birds and fish, it can restrict animals’ growth and can harm their digestive systems.



"Now that the area is cleaner we hope that people will think twice before dropping litter and help to preserve the beautiful habitat around the river for wildlife to enjoy."

Richard Weaver, from Keep Wales Tidy, said: "The pupils worked extremely hard and collected 50 bags of rubbish in two hours. They also found a lorry tyre, suitcase, pram, traffic cone, guttering, football and even an iPhone in and around the river."

The Vale of Glamorgan Council's waste team collected the bags of litter from the car park near the town hall and disposed of them.

The Eco-Committee is a part of the international Eco-Schools programme which encourages pupils to take key roles in decision making and participation in order to reduce the environmental impact of their school. In this way, Eco-Schools extends learning beyond the classroom and develops responsible citizenship attitudes both at home and in the wider community.

River Litter Pick - this Saturday, 8 March 9.30am-12.30pm

The Eco-Committee is working in conjunction with Keep Wales Tidy to spring clean the river Thaw in Cowbridge and the surrounding area.

 

We are looking for pupils, staff and members of the community to join us for the river litter pick on Saturday 8th March 2014. We will meet in the school car park at 9.30am and return to school at about 12noon for hot drinks and finish at 12.30pm. (The Vale of Glamorgan Council's waste team has agreed to collect the litter we have collected from the car park near the town hall.)

 

Pupils can collect a letter from Mrs Ellis in B1C or Miss White in E block or download the letter from the school website and return the slip to school by Thursday 6 March.

 

The Eco-Committee has researched a number of reasons why we should clean the river and the area.

• Litter in waterways can damage and kill wildlife. For example it can choke birds and fish, it can restrict animals’ growth and can harm their digestive systems.  
• The litter can’t get out of the river so it gets washed up onto the banks and beaches or taken with the tides into the sea. This, in turn, has a detrimental effect on sea life. You can see photographs on the internet of a whale which was cut open and 100 carrier bags were found inside its stomach and a turtle’s shell had grown in the shape of a figure of 8 because when it was smaller it had been caught in can packaging.

As a thank you for coming along and helping out, pupils will be given a pass to skip the lunch queue for a week! It's also an opportunity to volunteer and support the community which will be an excellent addition to pupils’ CVs.
 

Many hands make light work so we are looking forward to a great response from the pupils and the wider community.

 

Diolch,

 

The Eco-Committee

River Litter Pick

Saturday 8 March 9.30am-12.30pm

 

The Eco-committee is working in conjunction with Keep Wales Tidy to spring clean the river Thaw in Cowbridge and the surrounding area.

 

We are looking for pupils, staff and members of the community to join us for the river litter pick on Saturday 8th March 2014. We will meet in the school car park at 9.30am and return to school at about 12noon for hot drinks and finish at 12.30pm. (The Vale of Glamorgan Council's waste team has agreed to collect the litter we have collected from the car park near the town hall.)

 

Letters are available on the school website or can be collected from Mrs Ellis (B1C) or Miss White - please return the slip at the bottom of the letter to let us know if you'll be taking part.

 

Many hands make light work so we are looking forward to a great response from the pupils and the wider community.

 

Diolch,

 

The Eco-Committee

Video of Media4Schools Awards

Unfortunately, we were pipped at the post by Lewis School Pengam, but the pupils who created 'Don't be a Waster, be a Saver' beat off stiff competition to become finalists in the Media4Schools awards and enjoyed a ceremony to celebrate young media talent in the Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay.

The awards were presented by Cowbridge Comprehensive year 13 pupil Sophie Gallagher - she did an incredible job.

Click on the picture below to view a short video of the day.

http://youtu.be/rea0PIzPqUI

Media4Schools Awards

Pupils are eagerly awaiting the results of the Media4Schools awards. The awards ceremony is being held at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay.

The video 'Don't be a Waster, be a Saver', has been shortlisted for the best edited film. 

Also, Sophie Gallagher has been given the privilege of presenting the awards - pop lwc Sophie!

Go Green Day success

Thank you to all staff and pupils for their enthusiasm for Go Green Day. The school raised £1,140 - congratulations! The money will be split between the Size of Wales charity (which aims to protect an area of rainforest the size of Wales, as part of a national response to climate change) and Eco-Schools projects in our school.

Hundreds of spring bulbs were planted, pupils cycled and helped to generate enough power to light the mini school, over a hundred pounds was raised in the FairTrade cake sale and the winner of the 'Guess the Number of Chocolate Sprouts in a jar' competition was Joshua Lloyd-Doyle who guessed 150 chocolate sprouts - the closest to the actual 167!

 

A special thank you to members of the school's Eco-Committee, the Eco-Warriors and the Eco/Community prefects who made Go Green Day happen.

 

 

 

 

 

Go Green Day

Join in our Go Green Day celebrations on Thursday 17 October!

Firstly, it will be a non-uniform day, but with a slight twist. If pupils and staff wear an item of green clothing they will pay 50p - but if they fail to wear green, they’ll have to pay £1 instead. The greener the better! The money will go towards ‘The Size of Wales’ charity and developing Eco-initiatives in the school.
 
Secondly, pupils and staff are being encouraged to leave their cars at home. It would be great if everybody could travel in the most eco-friendly way possible, by catching the bus, walking, cycling or car-sharing on Go Green Day. The Eco-Committee will be collecting information on how pupils and staff travelled to school during registration and we hope to improve on last year’s results.
 
Furthermore, a FairTrade cake sale will be held during key stage three and key stage four breaks. Also, the Eco-Action Club will be planting spring bulbs around the school grounds during lunch. Any support from parents, pupils and staff for Go Green Day by baking cakes or donating spring bulbs will be greatly appreciated.
 
Lastly, the science and technology departments are working hard to enable us to use pedal power to light up a miniature school. Sixth formers and teachers are encouraged to give up some of their time (during free periods) to help to keep the school alight all day.
 
And to reward pupils for their hard work, a new Eco-Reward card is being launched. Just like a coffee shop reward card, pupils can collect stickers for taking part in eco-activities around the school and win prizes. Collect an Eco-Reward card from Mrs Ellis in B1C or Dr Stacey in A2G.

September Eco-Committee meeting minutes

In our first Eco-Committee meeting of the year, new committee members from year 7 were welcomed - Nia Evans and Luke Hinkin-Evans. The main topic for discussion was Go Green Day - the school will be marking Go Green Day on Thursday 17 October and a number of activities have been planned.

To read the minutes go to Eco-Committee Updates.

Eco-Schools Workshop Days

During the last week of the summer term, year 10 pupils took part in a series of workshops on an Eco-Schools theme.

Pupils make an impact in South Africa

Cowbridge pupils had the experience of a lifetime during the summer holiday when they travelled to South Africa to work with a charity called the Goedgedacht Trust.

They have brought home lasting impressions of how difficult life is for some children and young people there and with a greater realisation of lucky they are.


Asha

To see more pictures go to https://www.facebook.com/CCSGoedgedacht2013.