My colleague Steve Ruse, our Sustainable Schools Consultant sent me this about work going on at Humslet Moor Primary School...

"Hi Chris, This was a half-page article in Friday nights YEP. Hunslet Moor PS is a pathfinder sustainable school doing some really great work thanks to class teacher Hannah Darley (Sustainable Schools Representative) and Headteacher Narinder Gill. Paul Hudson was really good again."

‘CARBON FOOTPRINT’ CREDIT SCHEME'
As a school we will be working together, over 10 weeks, to collect 2,500 ‘green’ points by July 2009. Individuals will be given a ‘carbon footprint’ log book to record their contribution towards this total. Each person will be aiming to collect at least 10 points. If school achieves this target we will benefit from a £5000 reward from the business Sheffield Insulation Group (SIG). Individuals earn points through completing ‘evidence based homework tasks’ that require children to carry out a ‘green’ action of their choice either at home or within the community. The number of points rewarded for each task depends on the nature of the action. e.g. if a child makes sure no lights are on in empty rooms for a week, they will collect 1 point. If they collect and recycle all paper and card for a week they will gain 3 points. Children will be asked to ‘evidence’ their actions through recording them in their own ‘carbon footprint’ log book. For some children this may simply be a parent/ carers signature recognizing that their child has carried out the action. However, children will be encouraged to make their own weekly entry into their log to explain and illustrate their ‘green’ action for the week. Once children have carried out, evidenced and shared their log with their class teacher, they will be rewarded with a set number of points marked on their ‘carbon footprint’ card. Class teachers will be asked to record the total number of points collected by their class on a weekly basis. Eco council will collect these totals and share them, along with the whole schools ongoing total during Fridays ‘Achievement’ assemblies. The schools ongoing total will be displayed in the hall.' Regards Steve."

There is some great work going on at Hunslet Moor and at schools across Leeds to build sustainable environmentally friendly schools and it is great to hear about it and the work that Paul Hudson is doing.
Chris