Energy We Use Challenge Felpham Community College
Sixteen Year 9 students at Felpham Community College in Bognor Regis are switching their lights off at school and raising the awareness of climate change.
Students carried out a school-wide awareness survey and then a poster campaign aimed at changing people’s habits at school and at home.
The Sky Rainforest Rescue Schools Challenge was just what geography teacher Mrs Gayle Cullen was looking for. A colleague told her about it when she was setting up a weekly lunchtime geography club at the College. The structured student led programme was perfect for enriching the eco-systems topic her Year 9 geography class was studying.
“Eco-systems are an important part of their geography course this year and I thought the challenge would be an excellent way of supplementing their work in class,” says Ms Cullen.
Ms Cullen downloaded the resources she needed to get started and her lunchtime geography club was launched, attracting sixteen keen club members. “Once I got the students started, they quickly took ownership of the tasks – they liked having the responsibility, and working this way has improved their communication and team working skills.”
The team's first task was carrying out an energy awareness survey among staff and students at school.
“ Students made a set of posters about rainforest destruction and what can be done about it; other posters were made to raise awareness of the importance of switching off appliances and saving energy at home.
”We are trying to help save the rainforests, lots of animals live there and it’s very important for our eco-system. It’s very important to let people know what they can do to help.”
Schools can flex the programme to suit their needs. “You can use the challenges as you wish. The students can choose the activities and there are a lot of options. For me, doing a session once a week in lunchtime worked best. It gives the students the rest of the week to do the investigations and other tasks.”
Teams Taking Action
Team of the Month
groovy gorillas
Challenge: Energy We Use
We're delighted to annouce our Team of the Month - Groovy Gorillas from Biggar Primary School in Lanarkshire. They have made a brilliant start to the Challenge in 2013 and have taken some great actions, including delivering an assembly, designing board games, raising money to adpot a tiger and making sure they know exactly how much energy their school uses! Well done to you all and the best of luck with the rest of the Challenge!
