Birdham CE Primary School Print
Location: Chichester, East Sussex
“Team Green Britain really helps to clarify how everyone can make a difference,” says Peter Johnson the Head Teacher at Birdham CE Primary School in West Sussex. “It’s a classic example of an idea that suddenly gets quite large when you have lots of like-minded people involved.”
If those like-minded people are schoolchildren, Peter believes,
then their influence can be stronger still. He's witnessed
first-hand how pupils respond to the challenges of climate change
with energy and enthusiasm - even to the extent where parents
grumble about being forced to buy the most energy-efficient
appliances available.
"They are a powerful influence and they can really change the
hearts and minds of the adults around them," he says. "I'm always
amazed by the energy that they put in. They see life from a
different height and it's quite enlightening when you get their
viewpoint. They are not as constrained as adults and they have real
originality in the way they approach things."
Peter, who worked in agribusiness in the 1970s but became
disillusioned with the measures being taken to increase yields
through intensive farming, has been putting sustainability at the
heart of teaching messages since he switched careers in the early
1980's. At Birdham, he's helped to create an outdoor classroom with
five learning zones including an organic garden, orchard and
conservation area. The school's renewable energy centre allows
pupils to experience wind and solar power first-hand.
Green Britain Day 2010 provided a great opportunity for the
school to involve the local community in its sustainable efforts.
Planted with help from EDF Energy employees, the school's new tree
nursery now provides a home for four different varieties of tree
that will be planted out in the community to coincide with the
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. "It's a cracking event
with a super legacy to it," says Peter.
