Our first job was to carry out an environmental
audit of the school. It was easy to make some
big improvements straight away!

We recycle paper, cardboard, metal, glass, computer cartridges,  plastic containers and Tetra Pak milk cartons.

Break times are really eco-friendly! We compost all our fruit and vegetable
left overs.Instead of bringing snacks in plastic bags that have to be thrown away we use plastic boxes. They just get taken home, washed, and used again and again and again….

All the school’s fruit and vegetable waste is composted. The kitchen and the staff use compost caddies! We empty them into the compost bins every day. Our first bin of Moorfield compost is now ready! We have cleared up the beds in our kitchen garden and two wheel barrows full of compost have been dug in.

Form four were the winners of this year’s competition. In total the school collected 4.6kg  of aluminium foil. That might not sound much but foil is very light! Six black bin liners full went for recycling.

All the taps and light switches have labels to remind us to turn them off. We want to do our bit to slow down climate change.

Girls in Year 5 designed their own environmental quizzes including a list of top tips. We have started to distribute these in Ilkley.

Biodiversity is being increased in the school grounds with a new habitat area including a log pile habitat, ladybird house and mini-pond.

Our first swap shop was a great success. Girls in form five swapped paperback books.

We opened our bird feeding station at the end of 2006. So far we have spotted robins, blue tits, a goldcrest, a wren, long-tailed tits, coal tits, thrushes and blackbirds using the feeders. Some of the bird feeders are made from old fizzy drink bottles and clever attachments.

Due to a technical fault with our bird cam we did not take part in the  RSPB’s Big School’s Birdwatch in February. Instead a large number of girls took part in the RSPB Garden Birdwatch (January 26th – 27th) at home.

One of our birdboxes is registered with the BBC Nestbox Challenge - some of our pupils have joined in at home too!

We have started our “Park and Stride” scheme. Parents park at the Darwin Gardens car park and then walk to school with their children. Some exercise to start the day and a reduction in traffic congestion at school! The Park and Stride takes place every Tuesday. We are keeping a record of the numbers who take part and we aim to keep beating the previous week’s score!

Two water butts have been connected to our down pipes. We use the water for watering the plants and filling the bird’s water bath!