Green Day 2010

Churcher’s held their second ‘Green Day ‘ on Wednesday, 23rd June, to focus the whole school on the issue of ‘Sustainability in Schools and the Eco Green Flag Award.’

The fabulous June sunshine provided the perfect environment for an entertaining collection of activities to illustrate the message ‘Use the World’s Resources Thoughtfully and Avoid Unnecessary Waste.’

Dawn Perry the co-ordinator of green activities at Churcher’s said, ‘The school is recycling mobile phones, postage stamps, foreign coins and batteries in support of  the Children’s hospice ‘Naomi House’ and chose to make the hospice the focus of Green Day too, donating £2.00 to the hospice from each student who paid to wear green clothes on the day. We also asked staff and students to donate any unwanted clothes to Naomi House, for resale in their shops.’

Hilary Jupe, an employee from the hospice, said she was very impressed with the enthusiasm of the students and extremely grateful for the donation of approximately £1,000.

The day began with themed musical and drama performances to introduce the day. Some students then visited The Sustainability Centre in East Meon, while others took part in a ‘Swap Shop’ to exchange books, dvds and cds. Lessons and competitions incorporated the sustainable message where appropriate and lunch took full advantage of local, seasonal produce, washed down by banana smoothies produced using solar and wind energy.

Dawn concluded, ‘The highlight of the day had to be the inter- house competition, where male student teams competed to pull a mini bus as fast as possible around a 300m track, and  then calculated how many energy efficient lightbulbs could be lit by the energy used.'

A male staff team, including the Headmaster, Simon Williams, also accepted the challenge, just managing to beat the fastest team, Drake House, by 13 seconds!
Not to be outshone, the girls spontaneously decided to have a go at a shorter distance. So next year, the boys had better be ready!!