Ridgeway School: School Council 2007

Sustainability Soirée

Friday 7th December: The extreme weather of the weekend has served to underline the message that the planet is in a state of change. The strength of the wind and rain is a timely reminder that we live in a time of change. However, this change is not all doom and gloom, there are signs of real hope out there and indications that the hearts and minds of the young people of Ridgeway School are rising to meet the global challenge and having fun at the same time.

Friday night saw the opening of the campaign with the Sustainability Soiree; brain child of members of the School Council, ably supported by Matt Pontin from Creative Partnerships and a team of ace designers from Falmouth School of Art.

Sustainability is all about managing resources and the year 12s and 13s have worked with designer Lynne Devey to produce a stunning collection of re-constituted clothing that really deserves the title “ Works of Art”. The team have discovered that original thinking and responding to the constraints of existing materials need not be a barrier to creativity. The students created a truly inspirational show that has proved that a Saturday morning with a sewing machine is more satisfying that going out to buy another top!

The project would not have succeeded without the support of Karen Findlay, Maria Nicholson, Jude Cummings and the Green Room Junk Band and finally Rupert Evans of Evans Engineering who kindly came to make the closing remarks. Rupert is a water engineer who has travelled the third world to provide support for those people who are already feeling the crunch of Climate change. He came hot foot from an awards' ceremony at the other end of Cornwall, (the awards were for sustainable development initiatives and Rupert won the award for Individual Contributor), to support our evening and emphasise the importance of everybody working together. Nobody is to small to make a difference. It is working together that counts.

Hi all,

As you may know, the UN Climate Change Conference is currently happening in Bali, Indonesia. It's essentially Kyoto 2, and is the world's most important meeting on climate change so far. All the worlds leaders are there, and on Thursday Al Gore will address the delegates with a call for a new treaty to effectively tackle the problem of climate change.

When he does so he will take with him on stage the names of all the people who have signed a petition backing this call for action - I'm asking you to join me in signing that petition, to show the world's leaders, some of whom are still reluctant to act, that the world wants change.

Please go to this web address...

http://www.climateprotect.org/standwithal

and fill in your name, email address and country (and uncheck the box if you don't want to get e-mails). The number is currently over 170,000 - with luck and your help (please do tell your friends too) it could be 170 million by Thursday.

Thanks, Jemma

Ridgeway School Council Mud Build

It is interesting how much we allow our childhood to colour our perception of things. As a small child I spent a considerable amount of time in the corner of my garden playing mud pies, much to the consternation of my poor father who harboured the desire to have a flowerbed. Hours were spent happily filling buckets, up ending them and getting dirty. Mud was fun and I enjoyed playing with it.

However, mud is more than a child’s toy or something that we grow vegetables in. Mud is an ancient and effective form of construction; there are in fact some very fine examples of mud throughout the Westcountry, Europe and the Middle East. It is possible to create buildings of 4, 5, 6 floors high and they have been there for hundreds of years. The building techniques are called rammed earth, cob, and adobe.

So, why have a mud build at Ridgeway? The opportunity arose as part of the Creative Partnerships Climate Change project. We have spent the summer discussing how to best develop knowledge and understanding of the challenges faced by today’s young people in all their tomorrows. In the beginning we thought that reducing energy consumption was the way forward. We now know that it is simply the tip of the Iceberg. Dealing with Climate change is about sustainablity, it’s about understanding embodied energy, it’s about understanding design and most importantly it’s about social change.

Mud is a marvellous material, it has almost zero embodied energy, can be constantly re-used, is incredibly interesting to build and sculpt with and most importantly we have 120 bags of rescued mud wall, the help of Conservation Architect and Expert in Mud construction Linda Watson from Plymouth School of Architecture and 60 Student Architects who are coming to build the designs of Ridgeway Students who have been practicing the techniques for the last couple of weeks with Linda, David and some of her students. [See the video]

Please note: Flash Player 9 and a broadband connection are needed to see the film.

Download a leaflet from the Centre for Earthen Architecture [5.92 MB PDF]. There are plans to invite students from our feeder primary schools to take part in a further build next summer.

Linda Winter: [Photos by Hannah Martin & Sue Vanstone]

28/09/07 Gary Streeter Meets Ridgeway School Council

The school canteen was full to the brim with council representatives who were eager to discuss ways in which the people of Plymouth can pull together to tackle issues such as global warming and anti-social behaviour. Many questions were asked about creating areas such as youth centres in which teenagers can socialise. Gary Streeter was eager to support and answer our questions, showing a keen interest in Ridgeway School Council’s efforts to act against global warming.

We had a great turn out and the meeting was relaxed overall. Continuing meetings like this will be a great way of improving our city and the world around us. It is a fantastic opportunity for young people to put their ideas and opinions across. Gary has also agreed to attend a meeting with Ridgeway 6th form School Council representatives in the near future.

Ridgeway School Council would like to thank Gary for his time. We would also like to thank the school canteen and of course Linda Winter for arranging the meeting.

Hannah Martin 13JD: [Photos by Hannah Martin]

A Really Cool Guy!

Each year Ridgeway School Council holds its annual MP’s breakfast, this event gives student representatives the chance to meet with their MP Gary Streeter to discuss issues that affect them. The School Council is made up from students whose ages range from 11 to 18. Each student is keen to have their opinions heard and to take an active role in the School community. The breakfast allows students to take this desire a large step further.

Over the years Gary has answered questions with a level of honesty and integrity that has always impressed the students. A key question this year was asked by one of the Post 16 students about facilities in Plymouth. Gary was concerned to hear that the Mens pool was being closed and that this would restrict opportunities for free exercise in the city. This lead to a discussion about facilities in Plympton. The students said that they felt that there was not enough that focused on their needs and the cost of going into town was prohibitive.

In order to deal with the issues that were raised at the meeting Gary suggested that he meet with the Post sixteen students who are due to visit Parliament in November. A phone call to his Personal Assistant quickly had his day re-organised and a lunch time meeting scheduled in a committee room in the House of Commons. All the students who spoke with Gary today felt that they had spoken with a person who really cared and who felt that each one of them mattered. To quote Sam Ware of Year 11 “He was really interested, a really cool guy.”

As we walked through the school he talked about how much he has always enjoyed visiting us. He said, “ Young people are our future, they are what matters” This sums up an MP who has a real understanding of his job.

Linda Winter

03/07/07 Coppers for Tanzania

In the eyes of most people a two pence piece is worthless. They wear out trouser pockets and are seldom picked up when dropped. However, add a student council and a gem of an idea, a two pence piece can become iconic.

July 3rd was BIG MAP DAY at Ridgeway School. The School council has been working with the Global Development Links (now called Childreach International) in support of the TRY-IT fund (Tanzanian Rural Youth-Inclusion and Training). Global Development Links is run by University Students from the University of East London. It supports a number of training programs for young people in rural Tanzania, the key one being IT training. Without this they will never be able to go to University and the poverty cycle that currently exists in rural Tanzania will continue to spiral upwards. The Ridgeway School council found out about this Charity through the Office of Gary Streeter the local MP. They decided that it would be an ideal charity to work with as all funds raised go directly to those in need. This gives the council a chance to make a very real difference.

The day was not just about raising money. It was about working together as a whole school. Throughout the day Students arrived to place anything from 2p to £22 in two pence pieces. Donations were also brought in by the Plympton Police and StudioWinter Architects of Liskeard.

Students from Glen Park School arrived and took part. This was especially important as it gave them a sense of what the school council means at Ridgeway and will hopefully inspire them to join up in September. Throughout the day John Bainbridge and Beth Summers who represented the charity gave talks to younger members of the council and offered advice to those in year 12 who were interested in doing their year out in Africa. This event gave the whole school a chance to focus on something bigger than them selves. Together they all raised £424 pounds.

To quote a much used phrase: “ 4 computers and maintenance £423, Team Ridgeway working together – Priceless!”

Linda Winter

20/03/07 Energy Report Update

How do you create a common bond amongst young people? You find a shared idea and more importantly you find a way to make that idea a reality. There is one important idea that all young people hold in common and that is the future. However, the future that today’s young people are growing up with is not the sure safe thing that my generation grew up with. Although we had the cold war we did not have the uncertainty caused by a new challenge, that of global warming.

Admittedly there are two schools of thought, one that says that Global Warming is part of a natural cycle the other that says that it is a product of man made greed and a disregard for the planet. Either way there is a common bond, the fact that future is not a sure bet for all of our young people.

The School council at Ridgeway School is founded on a single premise that is, that for there to be a tomorrow the student of today must be empowered to take responsibility for their learning and more importantly for their part in what tomorrow brings. Our interest in making the school carbon neutral was founded on the idea of all the council being united by a common purpose, their future.

Reducing energy is not just about saving money for the school, after all it could be argued that that is not really the problem of the student. However it is about developing a sense of global responsibility and helping students to see that there are big questions out there that need solving. So at Ridgeway we are saving money to help with a sustainable education project in Tanzania. That we thought was a big enough challenge until creative partnerships arrived in our lives. They have given us the opportunity to take our idea and hopefully make a start at helping all the schools of Plymouth Carbon Neutral or at least showing them how we intend to try. This is a huge challenge that will probably take a number of years; however it has a tremendous by product. We will need to get out there and talk to other students and teachers in Plymouth and hopefully we will all be united by a single purpose.

On reading our application put together by a team lead by year 12 student Christopher Symons with considerable help from year 13 student Shaun Dowse Creative Partnerships said… "The judges were impressed by the scope and potential impact of your vision of making Plymouth carbon neutral. Your awareness of issues relating to the environment was clearly articulated, and we felt your work had the potential to leave real and lasting change in the city". The current School Energy Committee is made up of students from across a number of years groups. They are: Chris Symons, Jake Maastant, Nathaniel Rogers, Martin Heard, Daniel Finerty, Anthony Boulton, Eloise McKinney,(who put together an excellent presentation for the last School council meeting) and Tim Leay. They have been actively supported by the school debating club who are currently working on a debate about global warming that they will be taking part in, together with Maynard School in Exeter.

09/01/07 Ridgeway School Council Meeting: Energy Report

This aim of this meeting was to launch the Ridgeway School Global Warming project and, as part of this project, to identify a way that resources can be redirected to the third world. This is an important aspect of any global warming study as it serves to highlight the fact that we all have responsibility for both the causes and the outcomes of global warming. A small working party lead by Chris Symons have been working on this prior to Christmas (see 'From Toe Nails To Tanzania'), and the motion that the whole council would support this initiative was unanimously carried. The project will be working with the "Try IT" program and "Roots and Shoots".

Whole School Approach To Energy Saving

When I first sat down with the School Council Chairs(Annette and Martin), we agreed that the most important area that the School Council could look at was “ Global Warming” as it is an issue that will affect all of your lives. The way that we can all make a contribution towards reducing the effects of global warming is by making changes in the way that we use energy and resources. We also need to look at the way that resources can be redistributed to other areas of the globe that are suffering more from the affects of global warming than we are.

We decided that this was a problem that affected us all, so we decided that the first big picture issue that the School Council would look at was how we could make a change to our energy consumption. We can all be involved in this project but, more importantly, the School Council can help to make sure that the whole school, the whole of Plympton (tell your Mums and Dads) and maybe the whole of Plymouth is involved.

The School Council has put together an energy team to look at the way that the school, and eventually how Plympton, uses energy. If you are involved this will be a very important position, so it will mean that it has to take a priority. The team is a mixture of all ages and some members of staff. However, it is the responsibility of every member of this school to make sure that energy consumption goes down.

The team will learn how to read meters to make sure that we are reducing the amount of energy that we use. The first meeting will involve a walk around the school to look for where waste happens. This is similar to what the health and safety reps already do. This also involves students identifying where there is damage to the school environment, where repairs are needed and maybe even identifying those who have caused the damage as this is wastage of resources.

Another important role of the group is the energy walk around. This will allow the group to identify key points of energy consumption, where waste occurs, opportunities for savings and identifying where maintenance work needs to be carried out. If we care about our environment we will all gain a more positive attitude to our lives and our futures.

Areas to investigate

Electrical equipment: According to the above mentioned document lighting accounts for 20-25% of total energy costs in schools so we can achieve savings by:

1. Switching off lights when not required. Students could be appointed as light monitors and movement sensitive light fittings could be installed in any new build.

2. Clean light fittings are more effective than dirty ones. Check that all light fittings use energy efficient versions. These are more effective and can last up to 8 times longer.

3. Energy consumption of computers is high if not properly controlled. Check that all equipment is turned off when not in use. Remember energy is consumed even when equipment is on standby, so activate the power-down devices in all machines if this has not already happened.

4. Encourage Post 16 Science students/Council members to carry out the "Advanced Energy Scheme For Energy Savings In Schools" audit, (I have a copy of the documentation).

5. Further extension areas. School Council to act as "Energy Ambassadors". Members should visit local primary schools as part of primary liaison to explain about the process involved in energy saving and how they can take part.

6. School to have a "Put a sweater on" campaign to identify how they can help at home.