St. Stephen's
C.E. School
St. Stephen’s Parental Eco-Group
Wednesday 21st October members of the Gardening Club harvested the beetroot they have been watering regularly and presented it to Caroline our school cook. She is going to steam it and served it for lunch the following day.
September 09
Gardening Club started up again this week, welcoming back old friends and welcoming in some green-fingered year 3s. Special thanks to Adam from year 6 who helped the newcomers settle in with some salad seed sowing and did some sterling solo weeding work on the rather overgrown herb garden. If you missed this week's session, just come along and join in next Wednesday when our yellow courgettes might be ready for the school kitchen!
The herb bed after the holidays.
The Gardening Club were presented with a certificate by Stephanie Wood of School Food Matters for their film 'Where do apples come from?' They were runners up in the competition and have won a trip to the farm for a year group.
Read all about what we do in Gardening Club
St Stephen’s have this week managed to achieve Bronze Award status in the internationally recognised Eco Schools initiative. This is due to the huge amount of environmental projects that have been developed at the school over a period of time and include:
There is much more to achieve and do, but solid foundations have been laid for the school to aim to achieve the Silver Award in the future.
Well done everyone!
The Friends of the River Crane Environment (FORCE) are delighted that
Crane Valley Park has been announced as one of the winners of the
Mayor's Priority Parks programme. Chair of FORCE, Rob Gray, who visited
St Stephen's earlier this term, said; "We are very grateful to everyone
who voted for Crane Valley Park - the response from local people, and
particularly local schoolchildren, has been terrific. The work now
begins in earnest to ensure that the award
results in a larger and better park for all the local communities in
Richmond and Hounslow". A Feasibility Study report will be available on
the FORCE web-site www.force.org.uk for information and comment on
completion in May this year.
Help us sow the seeds for a greener tomorrow.
I’m happy to tell you that St Stephens Junior School has joined Generation Green, a new programme from British Gas to help our children do their bit to make the planet greener.
Greener at school
During the year, we will be undertaking green tasks to encourage us to save energy and cut our carbon footprint. Every task we complete earns credits called Green Leaves. When we reach our Green Leaf Goal we receive green-themed rewards for the whole school.
Greener in the classroom
Generation Green also gives staff a wide choice of teaching materials we hope will help make learning about green issues even more fun and inspire children to take an active role in protecting the environment.
Greener at home
Any support you can give us will be very welcome. For example, going along with your children when they ask you to do green things at home. Small actions like switching off lights to save energy can make a big difference. Your own green actions could even earn Leaves you can donate to [your school] to help us reach our goal. Getting household bills online to save paper is just one simple way to get Leaves. To find out more go to the Generation Green website generationgreen.co.uk.
As part of the redevelopment of the playground our pond has now been cleared - and a grand total of 42 frogs given a new home. On Thursday February 28, three pairs of frogs were rescued and rehomed at Orleans Infant School.
Alison and Sally clear the pond.
Frogs ready to be transported to their new home.
2 frogs in their new home at Orleans Infants School.
The following day parents Sally Logan, Claire Wood, Rosemary Sarginson-Bloom and Alison Targett returned and scooped out a further 36!
More frogs are gathered up by Claire Wood.
Rosemary Sarginson-Bloom and Sally drain the pond.
The father of a Year 6 pupil picked up six frogs for his own pond on his way home from work after a call from his son Harry who had read about the frogs in the school newsletter. As night began to fall, the rest were given a new home in the Japanese Gardens behind York House in Twickenham, thanks to a very kind council official. Once a favourite spot for artist Vincent Van Gogh, the St. Stephen’s frogs have certainly moved up in the world!
The Japanese gardens behind York House
Year 4 have been working to design a wildlife garden for the school playground. Click on the picture to learn more about the project.
Alison Harris from Richmond Borough Council and Councillor Acton presented the school with a certificate for our entry into London Schools Environment Award. They also presented us with paper recycling bins for the classrooms and bookmarks for each child detailing the improved recycling facilities in the Borough as from November 5th.
Berty is our new recycling bin parked in the car park. Please use this to recycle your unwanted clothes and shoes.
