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Case
study - West Town Lane Infants
West
Town Lane Infant School is situated in South Bristol and has 173
pupils ranging from the ages of 4 to 7. The school joined
The Recycling Consortium's Bristol project in September 2003,
and registered for the Eco
Schools programme at the same time. Eco activities
are coordinated by Specialist Teaching Assistant,
Toni Evans, who has worked very hard to ensure a high profile
for the project and involvement of all staff and pupils.
Working with Bristol's
education officer, Helen Peake, the school has participated in
the following activities: |
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2003 - Waste audit After
discussing the problems associated with landfill sites,
year 2 pupils conducted a waste audit to find out what the
school was throwing away. They sorted classroom rubbish
according the the material it was made from, and found that
the vast majority was paper.
Following this workshop
their teachers helped them to make a bar chart to show the
rest of the school what they had found out. |
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October
2003 - Assembly A
small group of year 2 pupils helped Helen to tell the rest
of the school about the problems of landfill and the results
of the waste audit. Each class was given a black box
to recycle their paper and a sign showing exactly what could
and could not be recycled. The assembly finished with
a lively rendition of the Black Box song! |
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January
2004 - Papermaking workshops
Helen returned with
paper artist Bridget Ely for New Year papermaking workshops with
a strong emphasis on REUSING paper before recycling it.
In the 'West Town Lane Paper Factory', groups worked with Bridget
to make sheets of beautiful hand-made recycled paper. Their
finished work was mounted on fantastic notebooks in which the
children could reuse A4 paper before putting it in their black
recycling boxes.
While at the school
for the day, Helen led a whole-school assembly to remind everyone
about reusing and recycling, including singing the now well-known
Black Box song. |
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| February
2004 - Literacy loan materials
Year
1 teachers borrowed TRC's 'Might Be Useful' literacy resources
for two weeks. Using these they were able to develop
the children's understanding of waste issues through interesting
and enjoyable Literacy lessons. Pupils particularly
enjoyed using the musical instruments made out of 'rubbish'
which are provided as part of the pack. (For more
information on borrowing or buying TRC's Literacy resources
click here.) |
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| May
2004 - Composting workshops
As part of their
Eco Schools work, the school council decided to set up a
compost bin to recycle fruit waste. To help pupils
understand the process of composting Helen returned to run
composting workshops with year 1 pupils, linking perfectly
with their science topic 'Helping plants grow.'
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Reception
pupils harnessed their imaginations, moving around like
recycling minibeasts living in a compost bin.
Helen also lead
another whole-school assembly to introduce the idea of composting
as a new form of recycling. Everyone enjoyed learning
an adapted version of the well-known song Wiggly Woo! |
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| June
2004 - Batteryman competitions
As a keen Eco
School, West Town Lane jumped at the chance to participate
in two competitions run by The Recycling Consortium promoting
battery recycling. Everybody was thrilled when Helen
returned to announce that the school had winners in both!
They were even more excited to meet her friend Batteryman,
whose dancing to the Black Box song was appreciated by all!
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2004/5 School Year
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West Town Lane started the year with a visit from Cycler the Rapping Robot (organised by TRC working with Waste Watch) to remind everyone of the importance of the 3Rs. Cycler admitted to not knowing about the specifics of recycling in Bristol, so, having listened to his 3Rs rap, the children taught him their Black Box Song! |
Resources
Inspired by TRC's papermaking workshops last year, Y2 teachers resolved to run their own as part of their 'Materials' topic in January 2005. They borrowed TRC's papermaking kits and great fun was had by all!
In March Y1 teachers borrowed TRC's Might Be Useful literacy resources again. They found that familiarity with the pack from last year helped them get the most out of the literacy and music activities. |
Workshops
During the year Helen revisited her old friends at West Town Lane and ran the following workshops to fit in with classroom topics:
- Y1 - Planting and Composting
- Reception - Minibeasts in the Compost Bin
- Y1 - Victorian Toys
Ever keen to sing the Black Box Song, she also contributed to school assemblies while she was there! |
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TRC would like to thank Toni Evans for sharing her enthusiasm and experience with other teachers from
Bristol schools at our Eco Schools INSET morning in February 2005.
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 For
further information, click below. |
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