Part of the Year 5 Geography syllabus for this term investigates the important principles of recycling-reusing-reducing resources and the impact of these actions on the environment. Under the guidance of Ma Marshall, groups in 5Co made some inspirational use of recycled bottle and jar tops to construct a range of different and striking collages.  These are displayed in the form room of 5Co in the Forum.

Another 'waste' material becomes a useful resource!

This may sound like an Eco transport initiative – after all 4Ma under the encouragement of Ma Marshall are well known for their enthusiasm to grab the weekly Eco travel prize in Year 4 – but this lesson was all about recycling and reusing different materials. Invited by Ma Marshall, Maria Warner from Oxford Council came into the Dragon to talk to 5Co during one of their Geography lessons.

Maria talked through why we should all recycle and how we sort our waste, getting 5Co to engage in a sorting activity with different materials and different recycling bins. 5Co also looked at other ways to use waste including making bunting and a very fetching ‘Walkers’ outfit! Perhaps from now on we will call our ‘waste’ a ‘resource’. And very resourceful 5Co were too!

On Wednesday 25th November  a class of Dragon Year 7 Art scholars visited the Ghost Forest installation in Trafalgar Square. The exhibition by local Oxford artist, Angela Palmer, was a project designed to highlight the plight of rainforests globally, their destruction and the link to climate change. Ten mammoth tree stumps of nine different tree varieties from the rainforest of Ghana, either officially logged or collected from fallen trees, were transported to the UK. They were displayed on their sides, roots exposed for all to see, at the foot of Nelson’s Column. If upright, many of theses trees would have soared to the dizzy 169ft height of the famous landmark in the Square.

The art scholars will continue to work on their sketches of the trees which will be displayed in the Art Department next term.The stumps will travel later this month to Copenhagen and provide a powerful symbol for UN delegates at the international Climate Change Conference in December.

Science today for 8SS saw them test their arguments, one team against another, in a topical debate on climate care. 
The motion was: “This House believes that the Government should set a limit on the personal carbon footprint of every individual”. The debate followed lessons in research about the causes – natural and manmade - of global warming and looked at the environmental, economic and social consequences of renewable fuel restrictions. Pupils applied not only their scientific knowledge, but their knowledge of historical events to predict future consequences. The House won by a narrow margin. Perhaps some future Oxford Union debaters in the making!

A group of Year 4 children recently spent the day planning, designing and creating a comic strip based on a 'green' super hero! See the comic results here.