Warden Hill Primary School Cheltenham

Eco Council

Proudly waving our green flag

At Warden Hill we are delighted with our Eco-Schools Green Flag as it is a constant reminder of the ecological achievements of our Eco Warriors and it is our aim to inspire the next generation of innovative, inspirational environmentalists to make considered choices which help to protect our planet.

At our school, each class has an Eco Warrior representative, elected by their peers each term, after they have given a short presentation to show how they will meet the roles and responsibilities of being an Eco Warrior. The group meet every week with Mrs Catchpole and Mrs Taylor (Eco Warrior Coordinators) to work on our identified action plan target areas which are: Global Citizenship, Transport and Waste. 

We are very proud of our Eco Warriors and the way they continually amaze us with their ideas, the way they work hard to raise awareness of environmental issues and how they have actively engaged in helping to make our school more environmentally friendly.

Post-Christmas Recycling

Warden Hill Eco Warriors have been concerned about the amount of waste created after the Christmas holiday, so they have researched some ways to recycle seasonal items. Here are their suggestions.


CHRISTMAS TREE RECYCLING


Christmas tree drop off points
Cheltenham Borough Council, want to make sure all Christmas trees are composted locally, so take your Christmas tree to one of the following drop off points:

  • Swindon Road Recycling Centre – anytime during opening hours
  • From 2 to 15 January 2024, locations around Cheltenham where trees will be collected and recycled:
  • Cheltenham Racecourse – New Barn Lane, Cheltenham, GL52 3LT
  • Cheltenham Town Football Club – Whaddon Road, Cheltenham, GL52 5NA
  • Old Patesians RFC – Everest Road, Cheltenham, GL53 9LG
  • Cheltenham B&Q – Golden valley retail park, Hatherley Lane, Cheltenham, GL51 6TA

Christmas tree kerbside recycling

Garden waste customers
If you are a garden waste customer, you can recycle your real Christmas tree at the kerbside once collections resume from Monday 15 January 2024.
Simply place your real Christmas tree next to your brown garden waste bin at the kerbside on your normal collection day and the crews will be able to take it away to be recycled.

Non-garden waste customers
If you are not a garden waste customer, you can dispose of your real Christmas tree at the kerbside from Monday 15 January 2024.


Please check to see when garden waste is collected on your road and place your real Christmas tree out on the kerbside on the day that there is a garden waste collection.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
Broken or unwanted Christmas lights can be placed in a tied carrier bag and then put one of your recycling boxes for collection. You can also take Christmas lights to the Swindon Road recycling centre.


CHRISTMAS CARDS
Please bring your Christmas cards to the office where they will be collected and taken to Cobalt https://www.cobalthealth.co.uk/support-us/supporter-events/

WRAPPING PAPER
Wrapping paper, which does not contain foil, can be put into your kerbside recycling boxes for recycling. However, wrapping paper made from foil cannot be placed in to the kerbside recycling box as unfortunately they cannot be recycled.


Tip: If your wrapping paper can be scrunched and stays scrunched up it does not contain foil, foil wrapping paper springs back when scrunched.


Cardboard gift boxes and packaging should be flattened and placed in your blue cardboard bag.

SWEET AND CRACKER TUBS
https://www.tub2pub.co.uk/tub2pub/
Greene King is running ‘Tub2Pub’, a recycling campaign to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support and recycle plastics. Make sure your tubs don’t go to waste and bring your clean, empty plastic confectionery and cracker tubs to any Greene King managed site from 1 January – 11 February 2024 to be recycled. Our nearest Greene King pubs are The Norwood and The Lansdown.

UNWANTED TOYS OR BOOKS
Please take any toys or books you no longer need to a local charity shop, so they can be reused.

Help a hedgehog

The Wildlife Trusts
The British Hedgehog Preservation Society

In 2020, Hedgehogs were put on the IUCN Red List as vulnerable to extinction in Great Britain, with only an estimated 879,000 living in the UK. So, Eco Warriors want everyone at Warden Hill to help these secretive spikey friends.


Do you have Hedgehogs living in your garden? Here are some signs to look out for:

  • Their droppings look like small brown slug shaped, shiny and black bullet shaped about an inch long
  • Tunnels in flower beds
  • Hear snuffling noises in the dark

How to help hedgehogs in your garden:

  • Leave a bowl of water and food out. In the wild, they like to chomp on insects, eggs, snails and larger prey like small mice frogs and snakes, which make them a gardener’s friend. You can feed them meaty cat or dog food, as long as it does not contain fish. Also, avoid foods like milk and bread because they are lactose intolerant. They can choke on peanuts so avoid those too.
  • If you have dug a hole in your garden, cover it over at night and check daily that no Hedgehogs have fallen in and are trapped. Also, if you have a pond, make sure that it has an exit ramp so Hedgehogs can get out easily to avoid drowning.
  • To help Hedgehogs roam from garden to garden, put holes in the bottom of fences, which are big enough to avoid getting their spikes caught on, 13cm x 13cm. A sustainable Hedgehog population needs 900,000 m² of connected land to survive.
  • You can put Hedgehog houses in your garden, which have a hole, which is big enough for a Hedgehog to enter but small enough to prevent foxes from getting in. A layer of dead dry leaves or nesting material can be put in the house, so they can hibernate from late December/Early January until late March.
  • Artificial lights can deter Hedgehogs from visiting your garden, so only have lights on when you need them.
    Interesting fact
    Did you know that hedgehogs are the only British animal which has a spikes? They have an amazing 5000 – 7000 spikes.

Eco Warriors Litter Pick

This term, the Eco Warriors were worried about the amount of litter in their local park, next door to Co-op. We learnt about the reasons why litter is a problem:

  • Harmful to wildlife
  • Plastic contains toxins, which can pollute waterways and oceans
  • Litter can hurt humans

We decided to make posters to tell other park users to stop dropping litter and put it in the bins instead. On Tuesday, we went to the park and met Councillor Graham Beale and Councillor Tony Oliver and put up our posters. We also did a litter pick in the park and were pleased that even though there was some litter to collect, there was less than the last time we visited.
The councillors told us that they have organised a community litter pick at Salisbury Avenue Play Area 11am-12.30pm on the last Sunday of every month., which we are hoping to join.
This summer we want everyone to remember to take their litter home or put it in a bin.

Eco Schools Flag

On Wednesday 13 July all Eco Warriors gathered together to raise our new Eco Schools flag.

The eco leaders, Mrs Catchpole and Mrs Taylor helped us to raise the eco flag to show that our school is eco friendly.

We have worked hard this year to earn our flag and we felt extremely ecstatic and proud.

The Wombles of Warden Hill

Last year’s Eco Warriors supported the Warden Hill Wombles scheme, initiated by one of now ex pupils Molly, to encourage our community to get involved with picking up litter during the holidays and weekends. We would like to encourage our community once again to pick up litter and become a Warden Hill Womble!

The Wombles Official
Keep Britain Tidy

Bird Watching

This week our Junior Eco Warriors took part in the RSPB’s Big School Birdwatch. The children spent their lunchtime identifying and counting the number of common bird species they saw, using an identification sheet to help them.  It was wonderful to see that our school site provides a habitat for such a range of birds from Goldfinches to Black-headed Gulls. The data our Eco Warriors collected has been uploaded to the RSPB, who will use it along with data from other schools in the country to see how birds are faring in school grounds right around the UK.

Fruit Waste Recycle Bin

At our eco meetings last term, we discussed recycling and how it is important to recycle our food waste otherwise it can contribute to green-house gases, which is not good for our environment. Therefore, a new fruit waste recycle bin, which you may have seen, has been purchased and is being kept under the shelter by the Infant hall. The bin is just for fruit waste only so that children can put their banana skins, apple cores and orange peels and other fruit waste in the bin at break-time so it can then be collected and recycled!

Litter Pick

On Friday 15th October, the Eco Warriors, dressed in their Hi Vis jackets and armed with gloves and litter pickers, set out to Salisbury Avenue Playground to do a litter pick.  The litter pick was inspired by a Warden pupil Ella Head who recently took it upon herself to do a litter pick in her local area.

When the Eco Warriors arrived at the park gates, they were greeted by Councillor Tony Oliver who helped to coordinate the litter pick, together with Councillor Iain Dobie, Mrs Flooks and Karen Watson, who manages the UBICO waste collection contract for CBC.

The children were fantastic during the litter pick and represented Warden Hill brilliantly, helping each other to sensibly collect and bag up the unwanted wrappers and rubbish.

The litter pick was an important activity which continues to raise the awareness within our school and local community of the damage that litter is doing to our environment.

Well done Eco Warriors – a great job