Does Waddesdon do enough to help the environment? We, like many others at the school, believe that we do not do enough and need to do more, starting with recycling. So, working with Miss Bridges, the school librarian, we have joined Eco-Schools which will help us to fulfil our mission and also allow the school to receive an award for their commitment to saving the planet. The Eco-Schools Programme provides a simple and sustainable framework to enable our school to make an even more positive impact on the community.

Having sent out questionnaires to all students, we are now setting up an Action Group which will produce an Action Plan by Christmas, with ideas to help us achieve our mission. Later, we hope that members of the community, including some interested parents, will join our group.

Already some practical action has been taken. We are committed to introducing recycling into the school by having baskets for paper waste placed in all areas of the school. This is to stop so much paper being wasted during the day – paper that can so easily be recycled rather than just being deposited in rubbish bins. Did you know that on average a family uses six trees worth of paper each year?

We also want to recycle tins, cans and plastics so there will be recycling baskets for these articles in certain areas of the school. How much better to recycle used cans rather than just throwing them in the bin. Did you realise that recycling one aluminium can saves us enough energy to run a television for three hours? What about ink cartridges? These, too, need to be recycled because the school does so much printing that we use up cartridges really fast - just ask the Office!

So, we’ve started but there is still a lot more we can do. More about this in the next newsletter. Until then, remember that every time you recycle, you are doing your little bit to help.

Maryam Amjad 12AS and Katie Bishop 12JG