We are delighted to begin this year by celebrating the incredible achievements of our Eco Committee over the past twelve months. Thanks to the hard work, creativity, and dedication of our pupils, staff, and wider school community, we completed a number of exciting projects that made a real difference to our school environment. From waste reduction initiatives and energy-saving campaigns to wildlife-friendly planting and raising awareness across the school, every effort contributed to our success.
All of this hard work culminated in our school being awarded the Eco-Schools Green Flag with Distinction – an amazing achievement. This is an outstanding achievement, and we are so proud of everyone who played a part in reaching this milestone.
Looking ahead to this new year, the Eco Committee is excited to build on this success. We will continue working together to:
Develop fresh ideas for making our school more sustainable.
Encourage the whole school to reduce waste, save energy, and care for nature.
Plan events and campaigns that inspire positive environmental action.
Work towards maintaining our Green Flag status.
We can’t wait to see what we will achieve together this year. Thank you for your continued support – every small action helps us make a big difference!
Eco Committee
Eastbury Community School believes in the importance of helping the environment and that is why we are working towards becoming an Eco-School. Our Eco Squad is responsible for ensuring we are doing just that. We want to make everybody in school aware of how they can make a difference to this world. We believe that it is not just the Government’s responsibility to change the world; it is ordinary people and the choices we make in our everyday lives which can make a real difference.
Children were able to put themselves forward to become an Eco Squad member and they hold regular meetings to discuss what can be done in our school and local community to help the environment and to work towards achieving a Green Flag award.
Take a look at our Sustainability Plan below - we have already began to work towards some of these very important aims.
All children across the school were asked to look at this 'Cut your carbon checklist'. These six simple actions with family and friends will raise awareness, change behaviours, make us more mindful of our energy consumption and how we can 'Cut your carbon' - a greenhouse gas responsible for driving climate change.
One key area we want to tackle is School lunches and particularly food waste. With this in mind, some of our children attended a workshop ran by Social Enterprise, looking at how we could tackle this in our school and how we could incorporate recycling into this. We now have sessions planned for the coming months where we can put a business plan together and decide how best to tackle this. Watch this space!
On Wednesday 21st May, a combined team of School Council and Eco Committee members proudly represented our school at a Social Enterprise competition, where they pitched their brilliant Recycling Food Waste idea to a panel of four business experts.
Not only did they impress the judges—they walked away with 2nd place AND the award for Most Innovative Pitch! 🌟
We’re beyond proud of their creativity, confidence, and teamwork. Stay tuned next half term as they bring their idea to life right here in school. Amazing work, team!
Roots & Shoots Workshop - Jane Goodall Foundation
Year 4 and Eco Squad Join Roots & Shoots Workshop!
Our Year 4 pupils, together with members of the school’s Eco Squad from both Primary and Secondary, recently took part in an exciting Roots & Shoots workshop run by the Jane Goodall Foundation. Roots & Shoots is a global programme that empowers young people to make a positive difference for people, animals, and the environment — inspired by the remarkable work of Dr Jane Goodall.
During the workshop, the children explored how small actions can have a big impact on the planet. They took part in hands-on activities that encouraged teamwork, critical thinking, and environmental awareness. From creating mini eco-projects such as Bug hotels to learning about local wildlife and sustainability which included planting their own seedlings, the session was both fun and inspiring. The children left feeling motivated to take action in their own school and community — a wonderful step towards a greener future!
Social Enterprise Project - Recycling School Waste
Our ECO Committee has teamed up with the School Council for this year’s Social Enterprise project. Together, they have chosen to launch a recycling initiative focused on repurposing the school’s food waste into compost or pet food.
Following initial workshops with a local entrepreneur, the group decided to test their idea to evaluate how well it would work in practice. Their findings will be presented at the end of May during the Dragon’s Den event in Barking—an exciting opportunity for schools across Barking & Dagenham to showcase and share their innovative projects.
