2024 – 2025 Highlights: Sustainability

This year, sustainability at Channing has been driven by a dedicated group of Eco Reps and Sustainability Officers who have worked hard to inspire positive change in school and beyond. From tree planting and birdwatching to reducing single-use plastics and hosting engaging speaker events, students have shown that even small actions can make a lasting impact.

Eco Reps Report

The Eco Reps have been a committed and enthusiastic team, making a real difference to the Channing environment and thinking about our impact on the wider world. They have met every Thursday lunchtime to plan and take part in events throughout the year, such as litter picking in Waterlow Park, the RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch and traffic pollution monitoring outside Channing.

In the autumn and spring terms, this was overseen by our Sustainability Officers, Olivia and Bella. As a group, they worked hard to achieve the Green Flag Award with Distinction for a second year running. They also helped run another successful Sustainability Week, with guest speakers Jenny Chapman, talking about sustainable food of the future, and Alison Williams from the Happy Elephant sustainable jewellery company, telling her inspirational story of how and why the company was set up. We also held a cake sale and second-hand clothes sale in support of Just One Tree, and hosted our first Channing Christmas jumper swap. Bella and Olivia introduced a new category to the Christmas classroom competition — the most sustainable classroom — and enjoyed seeing the inventive ways students had reused materials.

Satine and Opal took over as Sustainability Officers at Easter and have already started to build strong links with the Eco group. In May, the Eco Reps planted native trees, grown from seed by our school gardener, in Stanhope Road (see article by Opal), and visited London Zoo to learn about conservation work (see article by Satine). They have also been working with the Eco Reps to research and present what makes a product sustainable — looking at shampoos, face creams and make-up — and have delivered assemblies on reducing food waste and plastic waste in the school canteen. The Catering Department has been impressive in coming up with ways to reduce our plastic waste, switching to more sustainable products and exploring the use of dispensers and larger containers rather than tiny plastic single-use pots, which can take more than 200 years to break down in our oceans or landfill sites.

Tree Planting in Stanhope Road

Opal, Year 12 Sustainability Officer

Along with some of the Eco Reps, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to help plant some trees. At lunchtime, we headed down to the field on Stanhope Road, where the school gardener, Tony, kindly showed us how to dig holes for a variety of saplings, including crab apple trees and elm trees. It was really enriching to see how this is done, taking direct action to help the air and environmental quality around our school flourish. Although we are unlikely to see them at their full height while we’re still at school, it’s amazing to think that these trees will hopefully last for decades — and we can’t wait to see them grow!

London Zoo

Satine, Year 12 Sustainability Officer

At the end of April, the Sustainability Team — which includes Channing’s Eco Reps from Years 7–11, Sustainability Officers, and Mrs Walker, Ms Selina and Ms Kronk — took us to London Zoo for the day. We learnt about their conservation techniques and got to explore the zoo in small groups, which helped us bond across different year groups. We were able to see many animals; the penguins and gorillas were a fan favourite. We had amazing weather, which made the day extra special, and finished the trip with an ice cream to cool off. Overall, I think everyone who went really enjoyed the day out, and we learnt a lot about how the zoo works and how important it is to protect the environment for future generations of animals to live happily.