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GREEN PARTNERSHIP AWARDS

The school was recently successful in achieving a Green Partnership Award from South Ribble Borough Council and we have now started to put our plans into action.

The school is building bat boxes to be placed around the grounds and observed through CCTV cameras, which have been purchased as part of the award.

The camera has been set up as a trial in Miss Warburton’s room and will eventually be placed in the boxes to give live coverage of any activity.  Pupils will have access to this and will be asked to monitor activity.

As part of the activities planned there will be a bat walk in Cuerden Valley on 19^th June at 9pm until 11pm.  If you wish to take part please see Miss Warburton or Mrs Bowden

We hope to see lots of pupils and bats!

ECO SCHOOLS UPDATE

Balshaw’s is all set to become an eco friendly school and save energy.  We can’t save energy until we know how we are using it.  Balshaw’s has now reached the research part of the scheme and year nine pupils:

Siobhan McCann, Beth Fox, Lucy Baehren, John Tran, Stacey Swarbrick, Nathaniel Morris and Laura Farrington are set to discover Balshaw’s energy and water consumption by carrying out several tests over the next few months.  They will discover when we are using energy, how much we are using and how much it is costing the school.  They will do this by regularly reading the schools meters and checking how many lights and computers are left on unnecessarily, among other tests.  Once we have discovered this the eco team will come up with a plan for Balshaw’s to start saving this energy.

So get behind the team and help them out.

Written by Caitlin Graham (10CL8 )

ECO Schools

The school has embarked on implementing a whole school Sustainable School Policy. 

To show the school’s commitment to this, a new Eco School committee has been formed to develop an Action Plan and drive this forward throughout the school.

Eco Action Plan 2009:

To launch this new initiative there was a Sponsored Bulb Plant in October 2008.  This was run in conjunction with the Myasthenia Gravis Association.

A bid has also been completed for the restoration of the Brook and it is hoped that pupils will benefit from this throughout the curriculum.

The obvious objectives of saving energy, water and recycling will be increased along with new initiatives being introduced though the school councils and curriculum.

A major focus will be becoming more self sufficient in energy production so if anyone out there has a windmill or a solar panel or knows some one who can help please get in touch with the school.

Help is greatly appreciated and all comments will be greatly received.

 Website Link:

www.eco-schools.org.uk

This winning poster was produced by Laura Wade

Knit and Natter Eco Club

 April has seen the start of a new lunchtime club -  Knit and Natter Eco Club. Members of staff along with pupils have been learning to knit carrier bags and create fantastic, original handbags and purses to sell at the schools Spring Fair on 16th May. They've been made from recycled plastic bags, lined with recycled fabrics and decorated with recycled plastics and textiles. The end results have been very surprising and really creative. Take a look at some of the bags in the gallery below, or better still, come and buy one at the Spring Fair.

Waste information for Balshaws