Aug 27 2013

Green and Global for Autumn 2013

Green and Global for Autumn 2013

The end of last term saw us getting our hands dirty creating Keyhole Gardens, bag gardens and water tip taps with children ranging from four to sixteen (not all at once!).  As well as trying their hand at lots of new gardening methods, the pupils were fascinated to learn about ways in which people in Africa grow food and feed their families in harsh climatic conditions and with few resources.  In addition to these fun days with pupils we were also invited to run several twilight workshops for teachers on global gardening.

Away from the garden we continued to develop our fruitful partnership with Sustain, embarking on an ambitious project to reduce the energy usage in nine schools in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.  Early starts to London were compensated for by the enthusiasm of some of the school and their successful outcomes (with one of the schools reducing its electricity use by a whopping 24% and another by 17%!)

Looking ahead we are waiting for news of two funding bids, developed in partnership with the Wiltshire Global Education Centre.  If successful we will be able to launch two exciting projects with schools in Wiltshire.  One will explore the ways in which the population of Trowbridge has been shaped by people moving there to work.  The second will enable us to set up global gardening clubs in Westbury schools.  Fingers crossed and we will let you know soon.

We look forward to working with you in the coming year to help make  your schools ‘green and global’.

Feb 05 2013

2013 – Looking ahead

Spring is coming and we’ve got lots on the go….

Energy-WISE, we’re working with the carbon reduction company, Sustain, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on an energy-saving project in 9 schools.  We ran a training morning for teachers,bursars and site staff and now the schools are getting stuck into a variety of technical and student-focused energy-saving actions.  The aim is for them to cut their energy bills by 10%…. we’ll let you know how they get on.

We’re also enjoying the fact that spring is in the air, and schools are thinking about gardens and growing.  We’ve put together a great twilight session on‘Developing a Global Garden in your School’ that we’re hoping schools will sign up for.  Feedback on the courses we have run has been very encouraging…”Great practical ideas”….”Inspiring”….”One of the best Insets we’ve had”…. So do get in touch if you would like more information – or look at our events page.

In March we will be working with Hilperton Primary School to help them build an African Keyhole Garden! We’ve worked with Send a Cow to develop this activity day and we’d be happy to discuss ways of doing something similar in your school.

And finally (for now)….we’re putting on a day’s training for teachers to complete the first level of a new, nationally recognised accreditation called the Global Teachers Award. We’re working with Wiltshire Global Education Centre on this and the event is on 11th March in Bath.  See the Events page for details.

Feb 05 2012

Turning over a new LEAF for 2012

WISE is very pleased to be starting the New Year by working with Bath & West Community Energy on their project funded by the LEAF (Local Energy Assessment Fund).  The LEAF funded feasibility study will focus on 5 schools in Bath and Wiltshire and see WISE carrying out energy awareness work both within the schools and in some of the wider local communities.

Alongside this BWCE will produce reports on the schools’ energy use with recommended measures for increased energy efficiency.  Energy specialists will look at Ralph Allen, Oldfield, Newbridge, Bathford, and Colerne schools, and suggest ways of improving and financing energy efficiency.  It is hoped that this can then be rolled out to other schools in the area.

The combination of the education and community aspect from WISE and the technical energy assessments from BWCE will help schools not only to reduce their energy bills and carbon but also enhance the curriculum and raise awareness and expertise around energy issues for children and their families

Aug 30 2011

News for the new school year.

The end of last term saw a busy time with the Global School Partnership workshops well attended, and a final evaluation carried out and report written for Send a Cow on the Grow it Global project.  We also ran a successful series of three twilight sessions on Eco-Schools topics and Frome schools and would like to say thank you to the staff at Beckington First School and Selwood and Oakfield Middle Schools for hosting us.

This Autumn we will be repeating the Eco-Schools twilight sessions but this time for Bath and NE Somerset Schools. See the events page for details.  And there will also be another opportunity to attend the free Global School Partnership sessions; ‘Building Effective Partnerships Worskhop’ and ‘Grant Preparation Seminar which will run in Bath and Bristol throughout October and November.

And finally the start of anew school year is a good time to sign up for our annual support scheme.  The scheme offers year round support for your Eco-schools and sustainability projects and reductions on all our training courses – please get in touch for more information.

Apr 04 2011

Spring update

Our energy and Eco-Schools training day was a great success.  Many thanks to all the Carymoor staff and the enthusiastic teachers who contributed this.

Since then we have been busy with other activities including a Global School Partnership workshop held together with African Initiatives, and input to two schools events: ‘Your World Your Say’ a Y8 conference in Bristol, and the Frome Eco-Schools gathering organised by Sustainable Frome.

Our plans for the summer terms include ‘Skills for Sustainability’ – three twilight professional development sessions covering School Grounds – growing and composting, School Energy Projects and Water – see our events page for more details.

Nov 29 2010

Our first WISE words….

Welcome to the WISE website – thank you for visiting and we hope you like it!

We are pleased to be able to tell you about our first WISE event, which we are organising jointly with the Carymoor Environmental Trust.

On Wednesday 16th February 2011 we will be running an Inset day on ‘Energy and Eco-Schools’. The day is open to school staff, teachers and governors and will enable you to learn more about tackling energy-saving projects in your school, as well as other ways in which you can use the Eco-Schools framework to make a difference.

Contact us for further information and look out for a flyer arriving at your school shortly.