St Patrick’s Primary School in Solihull has had a keen eye on ‘going green’, for a few years. Their sustainability work is school wide and gains the support of governors and parents, who all agree that this is the right way for the school to go.
The school has wisely taken advantage of all the support on offer. A Climate Advisor from Let’s Go Zero helped them to complete their Climate Action Plan. Participating annually in the Solihull Greener Award has given a yearly focus to their sustainability work. They have also been spurred on by their great partnerships with St Patrick’s Church, Eco schools, National Education Nature Park, Better Planet Schools, RHS and Shirley Lions. St Patrick’s has been awarded a wooden turtle (Level 3 – Greener Solihull Award) by Solihull Council for their eco work.
So, what does sustainability look like at St Patrick’s? Significantly, children lead the way with sustainability. Children see the signs of climate change around them and want to do something, as they say, “This is our world”. They lead the way in acting responsibly and encourage their families to act in a similar manner. They support staff in encouraging everyone to pay attention to the natural world around them (looking, listening and feeling): birds, flowers, trees, sunsets, seasonal fruit/vegetables in meals, and then to care for the living things.
The Eco Team, has representatives from each year group from years 1-6. This team leads environmental projects and daily monitors electricity use round school, as well as switching off idle equipment. Pupils have campaigned for the kitchen staff to stop using clingfilm and other single use plastics. Pupils manage the recycling of different kinds of waste, and do daily litter picking. The Eco team tends the wildlife garden and quiet spaces. Each class has been allocated a planter to maintain with pollinator-attracting plants. Pupils helped establish the new pond and have created various habitats within their forest school and wildlife areas, including a bug hotel, bee home and safe habitat area next to the pond for frogs.
Of course, the children are well guided by the adults in school. Teachers take advantage of initiatives and resources that can assist its sustainable goals including https://www.jointhepod.org/ promoted by the LA. Each year group has specific teaching on climate education – particularly in the role of technology in green careers. The onsite Forest School is used well and pupils carry out many different projects in it. They learn about the fruit on the trees in the grounds, and learn about what their state tells us about the weather conditions and ability to sustain local wildlife. They are fortunate enough to be able to eat the seasonable vegetables in lunches. Kitchen staff are also on board with the sustainability agenda and the delicious food served is, as far as possible, seasonal and locally produced. A good choice of food is on offer, with a new improved selection of vegetarian meals.
The school is very aware that parents have an important role to play in helping the school to work towards being carbon neutral. A sustainable means of communicating the school’s activity is a virtual platform ‘Weduc’. This is how parents learn of the school’s priorities, as well as regular update letters and reminders. Leaders encourage a good turnover of school uniform with the provision of a pre-loved clothes rack within the school, as this is seen as good stewardship of the earth’s resources. In an effort to cut down fuel emissions and encourage healthier travel, many parents are adopting advice to use the nearby pub car park and then walk some of the journey to school. Concerned also for pedestrian safety and healthy air outside school, the school has tirelessly campaigned for a safer road and has been successful in getting a 20-mile an hour zone in front of the school.
There are so many people in the school community involved in making sure that crucial decisions taken are ‘planet-conscious’. This includes the business manager monitoring energy use through automated meter readings. Every time governors meet, part of the time is spent discussing environmental initiatives and making further plans. One of the biggest recent achievements has been the journey to acquire solar panels, which were finally installed in September 2025. This has been a really exciting project of which pupils have also been a part, as some were elected as ‘solar ambassadors’, in the early stages. Therefore, as a result of collaborative effort, St Patrick’s is going to be even more sustainable in the future!