This half term saw the first two meetings of the College's new Eco-Committee. Pupils from Year 7 to Year 12 applied to be part of the committee, with Mr Cooper appointing representatives from each year.
The new chairperson is Year 12 pupil, Martha Berry. She said: "Our first meeting was about having a look at the tasks ahead or our action plan. We discussed questions like, what are we already doing as a school and where are the obvious gaps?
"We are currently filling out a survey on what Shiplake's environmental
"This will hopefully give us an understanding of where to start, and then we can only go bigger. We also threw about ideas for future plans, nothing set in stone, but possibilities of gardening, volunteering and future fundraisers (also lots of aspirational ideas we discussed too!). To get things started straight away we will be looking at recycling across classrooms and where it ends up.
"It was really inspiring to listen to some of the younger committee members have truly unique ideas, and be so enthusiastic about it. Overall, it was a success and we will be meeting again in the next couple of weeks to review the survey, and create a plan."
Mr Cooper said: "The Eco-committee's main goal is to educate pupils on how to improve their environment for the better. I want all of them to take from the experience a wider knowledge of how these things work and to see how they can make real change. I have told the students we need to tackle the small things but also dream big for our school environment, so we hopefully see initiatives like more plants within classrooms to looking at how efficiently the school uses energy.
"We are building on the last Eco-committee already as new mixed recycling bins have been ordered for school classrooms to start encouraging the message that we can all do our bit.
"This project is all about the students and their ideas and I will continue to help facilitate their goals. Over the last two meetings I have been inspired by the passion shown by the committee and know they will leave a great legacy for the school."
If any pupils have ideas to put to the Eco-Committee, please contact your year group rep(s):
Year 7: Zac Sanders and R Stewart
Year 8: James Middlehurst
Year 9: Pearse Welsh
Year 10: D Gemmell
Year 12: Dulcie Atherton Bebbington, Jamie King, Sylvan Verzone, Charlotte Payne, Jessica Pallet
Chair: Martha Berry (Year 12)
