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.

Go Green Day plans - Friday 17 October / Diwrnod Gwyrdd - Dydd Gwener 17 Hydref

Pupils and staff at Cowbridge Comprehensive School will be celebrating Go Green Day – making it bigger and better than last year! Firstly, it will be a non-uniform day, but with a slight twist. If pupils wear an item of green clothing they will pay 50p - but if they fail to wear green, they’ll pay £1 instead. The greener the better! The money will go towards ‘The Size of Wales’ charity and Eco-initiatives in 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/five 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, during period 5, every pupil in KS3 - from Years 7 to 9 - will take part in a 3km Green Fun Run. Pupils need to wear appropriate green clothes to school and bring trainers with them. Sponsorship forms will be distributed next week for pupils to raise as much money as possible. Pupils can even challenge themselves to run the 3km in a personal best time. Prizes will be awarded for the fastest runners in each year group, including tickets to Taskforce. Let’s Go Green!

Street Food Club - Friday 10 October

On Friday 10th October it is the very first “Tasty Business” street food extravaganza! Tickets are selling fast! The Bar 44 street kitchen van will be arriving in school between 9.15-9.45. You are not allowed to visit the van until lunch time as it will be too busy preparing delicious food for you all to eat! The menu was devised by pupils with the aim of providing a healthy nutritious meal.

Tickets from the canteen are available for £2 for the meal deal. Also Barr 44 have agreed to do a small taster dessert for customers of the meal! For example Churros!

For this day only the diners will be allowed to eat outside, but only in allocated area shown in the picture above. There will be signs showing where to eat and extra bins will be provided. Please make sure you leave the area clean and tidy so that this fun event will be allowed to return and from another country! The paper that the taco wrap is served in, is biodegradable!

The Vale has also provided the 2 small gazebos for piñatas and drinks to be served and as a backup in case it rains!

Remember to buy your meal deal from Tuesday- Thursday! Tickets are selling fast and furious, don't miss out on a taste of Mexico!

Green fingers at the ready

The Eco-Action Club is back and KS3 pupils planted winter vegetable seeds into trays with the support of Year 11 pupils Callum Marlor and Lukas Wallis.

The trays have now been placed on the window sills in the Biology lab to germinate in the hope that they can be planted out in The Veg Plot in a fortnight.

Thank you to Miss Taylor for supporting the Eco-Action Club.

The Veg Plot

With thanks to Mr Jenkins the caretaker the Eco-Action Club has a new home, The Veg Plot!

With money the pupils raised through Go Green Day activities, the Eco-Committee bought the materials needed to build a fence and gateway into The Veg Plot.

This year, the Eco-Action Club will benefit from the support of members of the local community through the inter-generational project and hope to harvest a healthy crop soon!

Diolch yn fawr Mr Jenkins!

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

World-wide success for Eco-Video!

Cowbridge Comprehensive School's new Eco-Video is being watched across the world, and there are even comments on Twitter in Dutch about it!

 

The song, entitled 'Don't be a Waster, be a Saver!' was written by the school's Eco-Committee and the ideas for the video came from them too.

Everybody has played their part, from year 7 pupils to the senior leadership team, and from the canteen staff to the caretakers.

The video was released on Friday (14th of June) on YouTube and already more than 2,500 have viewed the video. Take a look by clicking on the image below...

 

 

 

Going for Green

Pupils at Cowbridge Comprehensive School are going for their third green flag today.

The Eco-Committee will be presenting information about their work over the past two years to Julie Giles from Eco-Schools Cymru. To view the Prezi presentation they will be giving just click on the image below.

They will also be showing the new Eco-Song, previewed yesterday on the blog! To view the Eco-Song 'Don't be a Waster, be a Saver!' click here.

Click on this image to view the Prezi presentation they will be giving

Pob lwc!

Preview our new Eco-Schools video

Be one of the first to see the new Eco-Schools video by clicking on the image!

Eco-Song Release

There's a frenzy of anticipation for the release of the new Eco-song and Video. The song, entitled 'Don't be a Waster, be a Saver!' was written by the school's Eco-Committee and the ideas for the video came from them too.

Everybody has played their part, from year 7 pupils to the senior leadership team, and from the canteen staff to the caretakers.

The video will be released on Friday, to be shown as part of our Eco-Schools inspection visit, in the hope that it will help us win our third green flag. It will also be available to see on YouTube.

 

World Environment Day

Cllr Rob Curtis with Michael Walsh and Kate Gwynn

To celebrate World Environment Day, two Eco-Committee representatives from year 12 took part in a Vale of Glamorgan Council event, hosted by Cllr Rob Curtis, Cabinet Member for The Environment.

The event's focus was food - one in seven people in the world don't have enough to eat yet 400 tonnes of food is wasted in Wales by households each year. If this waste food was recycled it could produce enough energy to power 19,000 homes a year.

Michael Walsh, year 12 pupil at Cowbridge Comprehensive School, said:

"The conference was very productive in my opinion as it brought together people from many different backgrounds, organisations and companies to discuss environmental issues, especially food issues, in the Vale of Glamorgan. There was a clear message - there has been good progress, but there is far more needed to be done to meet our targets, and it needs to be driven by young people, as it's our future.

"The panel of speakers each individually gave their own message to the four young people in the room. It was a very interesting day and I would recommend participation in environmental action to anyone, as it's so important. From this event, we can bring back new ideas to the school's Eco-Committee!"

A large number of organisations were represented at the event and speakers included Jasper Roberts from the Welsh Government, John Honfray from Cowbridge Compost and Elen Jones from FairTrade Wales.

 

Each of the speakers gave words of wisdom to the younger generation.

1. Use your influence to change your parents' behaviour, for example encourage them to recycle and to place wasted food in the food collection bin.

 

2. Don't follow the heard if you want to make a difference. 

3. Grow your own food and don't buy food that you won't need - plan your weekly food shop based on what you need.

4. Understand the difference between sell by, best before and use by dates on food.

5. Harness your enthusiasm. Don't be afraid to speak up and get involved.

6. Buy FairTrade cotton shirts and blouses for school.

7. Use your consumer power - if it's not FairTrade, don't buy it. Or if there's too much packaging, opt for a product with less packaging or recyclable packaging.

8. Go to the Energy Saving Trust's website and do the Water Energy Calculator. See how your house compares to your neighbours' houses and your family's homes.

9. Support the local economy, shop locally and buy local produce.
 

10. Join a campaign, any campaign, for example the Save the Bluefin Tuna campaign.

Cllr Curtis was delighted to host the Vale Council's inaugural World Environment Day Event. He was very impressed by the students' enthusiasm and encouraged by their eco-work at the school. Cllr Curtis' message to students is to find an environmental cause that they feel passionate about and join in - however small their contribution is, they can still make a difference.

Eco-Action Club spreads its roots

The school is a prettier place thanks to members of the Eco-Action Club who spent their lunchtime planting herbs and flowers into new planters outside the school canteen.

The planters, made by Mr Jenkins with funding provided by the PTA, are now home to an array of herbs, which can be used in cooking, as well as pretty flowers. Thank you to everyone who took part and supported this venture and to Ewenny Garden Centre for giving us a discount on the plants.

Dr N Stacey

Committee Meeting Minutes - May

In this meeting, the committee took part in a workshop to write lyrics for an eco-song. The committee also reported on their recent visit to Aberthaw Power Station and Cog Moors Wastewater Treatment Plant. See the 'From the Bathroom to the Bay' article to read more about the visit.

The full minutes from the Eco Committee meeting, held on the 9th of May, are available in the 'Eco-Committee Updates' tab at the top of the page.

We are a FairTrade School

The school has just had its FairTrade status renewed for another two years and received a glowing report for the activities which have taken place in school over the last twelve months.

The FairTrade foundation were very impressed with the teaching and learning activities which have taken place in the classroom and also with the fantastic range of products sold and used in the canteen.

 

They also commented on how marvellous it was to receive evidence of the excellent links which have been formed between the school and the local community and the events, such as the FairTrade treasure hunt around local shops, which have been jointly organised by the school and the local community.

 

A huge thanks to all those involved in these events especially; Alice Sturgess-Webb, Holly Richardson and Ellie Hill who ran the committee this year, and all the ladies from the Cowbridge Town group.

Committee Meeting Minutes - April

In this meeting, Andrew RT Davies, Welsh Assembly Member, joined the Eco-Committee to learn more about the work of Eco-schools at Cowbridge Comprehensive. The committee also got the chance to have any questions they had about the work the Assembly does for environment answered by Mr. Davies. See the 'Eco-Committee welcomes AM' article to read more, and to view a video clip of the meeting. Feedback was also given regarding the staff car-sharing survey, with many positive and encouraging results. The year 8 Eco-Committee representatives reported back after their meeting with the caretaker concerning the school's water fountains: 'Where's my Water?'.

The full minutes from the Eco Committee meeting, held on the 25th April, are available in the 'Eco-Committee Updates' tab at the top of the page.

Eco-Committee welcomes AM

Welsh Assembly Member, Andrew RT Davies, visited the school today to spend time learning about the work of the Eco-Committee.

He was welcomed to the Eco-Committee's monthly meeting and took part in the discussions. He also answered a number of insightful questions from the pupils about what the Welsh Assembly is doing about the environment.

He said that the pupils had shown a detailed knowledge of the subject and had demonstrated a commitment and a determination to make changes.

To watch a video of some of the issues discussed at the meeting click here.

 

 

Where's my Water?

from Angharad Thomas and Selina Radcliffe

On Thursday 18th April we met Mr Walters and we said that there are only three water fountains working at the school because most of them were vandalised. Mr Walters explained that the water fountains where there hasn't been any supervision were the ones which were vandalised. Each time they are broken it costs £130 for a new part. Also, the water fountain on the ground floor of A Block was damaged and leaked water which caused the flooring to rise.

Mr Walters suggested that one of the water fountains could be replaced with a chilled water dispenser like the one in the canteen. This would be better than a water fountain because the water would be filtered and chilled. Also, it would be easier to use than the water fountains to re-fill bottles.

So we thought that by reception and the toilets was a good place to put one because there are staff in reception all the time so it wouldn't be vandalised. Mr Walters also said that by reception would be a good place because we would need to get electricity to the chilled water dispenser because it’s run off electricity. This is why we couldn't put it down by P.E. or in any other block. He said that it should be ready to use after Whitsun half term.

Note:
Angharad Thomas and Selina Radcliffe are the year 8 representatives on the Eco-Committee.

Minutes from March Meeting

Committee members gave positive feedback on the climate change talk as well as the ‘ChangeMakers’ conference, which were both held this month. For more detail on these events, see the ‘What can we do about climate change?’ and ‘Pupils become ChangeMakers’ stories on the Eco-Schools blog. The Cowbridge Comprehensive School Eco-Schools Blog was recently displayed on the Eco-Schools Wales website as ‘best practise’ - a great achievement for the committee.

The full minutes from the Eco Committee meeting, held on the 12th of March, are available in the ‘Eco-Committee Updates’ tab at the top of the page.

Pupils become ChangeMakers

How can we make a difference to a global issue such as food poverty?

This was one topic that was discussed at a special conference organised by the British Council Wales to encourage and empower year 12 pupils to become ChangeMakers within their schools. The pupils left the conference with plenty of ideas of how they could share the knowledge and experiences they gained at the conference with their friends, families and pupils at the school.



FairTrade banana farmer, Sandra Joseph, with the year 12 pupils

Six year 12 pupils represented the school at the conference and had the pleasure of meeting a FairTrade banana farmer from St Lucia called Sandra Joseph. She talked about the benefits of her FairTrade status and the financial support the FairTrade Association gives her, especially during times of crisis. An example of this was when a hurricane hit her farm and it took her and her colleagues six months to get it back up and running again. Without her FairTrade status this may not have been possible.

Pupils from across South Wales took part in the conference




















The pupils made personal pledges such as:
- to not waste food by only buying and cooking the food that they need;
- to purchase FairTrade food;
- to record how much food their family wastes and encourage them to waste less.



Pupils worked together to discuss ideas and to put a plan together for school-wide pledges

Minutes from January Meeting

'Don't Be A Waster, Be A Saver'



This was the winning slogan in the the Eco-Code competition and it will be displayed throughout the school on a poster designed by George Williams. The Eco-Committee thoroughly enjoyed judging the competition in our meeting and there were so many great entries we have created a page on this blog for everyone to see the entries - to take a look, click on the tab 'Eco-Code Competiton Entries' at the top of the webpage.

 

The full minutes of the meeting, held on the 24th of January, are available - click on the 'Eco-Committee Updates' tab at the top of the webpage.