Bringing about real change can be challenging, but we are determined to embed sustainability in our conversations, classrooms and business. We have set out ambitious goals for the future and already committed a substantial amount of time, planning, and investment to begin to make these a reality.
The definition of sustainability is the ability to exist and develop without depleting natural resources or doing harm. It’s something we do now as a matter of course and the reason we do it is because it’s the right thing to do for the future of our pupils.
Communicating and acting on issues of sustainability is crucial in educating and inspiring our pupils, who will shape the future sustainability agenda.
It is important that our pupils have a voice on sustainable initiatives and that they feel empowered to hold College accountable for the commitments that are made. College has a Sustainability Committee, made up of pupils from across the year groups, that meets regularly and generates ideas. College feeds back on all the suggestions, as well as the actions taken and the successes of each project.
A recent pupil-led sustainability aim was to reduce meat consumption and lower carbon emissions, through a ‘Meat Free Mondays’ initiative. College worked with suppliers to reduce waste and promoted a Buy Local strategy, which reduced the carbon footprint and hit a target of zero waste to landfill.
One of the largest College-wide projects currently underway is our aim of becoming Carbon Net Zero. An exercise has been undertaken to measure College’s carbon footprint and create a baseline, so that improvements and goals can be tracked.
We now can map the upgrades and changes that we need to make across the College estate in order to be Carbon Net Zero. Our immediate focus will be on upgrading the fabric of our buildings, many of which date back to the 1800’s, to improve their efficiency – replacing windows, insulating rooves and upgrading all lighting to LED’s. We have also refined the means by which we heat our buildings to maintain optimum efficiency. Renewable energy to power the buildings will also be considered and we have already begun the process of installing photovoltaic arrays. Heat- and Air-source heat pumps will follow as the technology develops and there are early plans for a Heat Network in Cheltenham which would encompass our buildings.
We are also looking at measures that fall outside of our building stock - replacing diesel vehicles with electric ones, installing more EV charging points and looking at how we manage our waste.
It’s important that our suppliers reflect our carbon net zero and wider sustainability aims. From our insurance to photocopier supplier, and school uniform to carpet manufacturer, we aim to work with sustainable and carbon neutral companies across College.
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General Open Day: 7th June
Yr7 Experience Day: 13th September
Sixth Form Open Day: 19th September
