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28/03/24

Easter Break - wishing our students, staff and SJL community a very relaxing Easter break. We look forward to welcoming students back on Tuesday 16 April 2024 – school is closed to students on Monday 15 April due to staff INSET day. pic.twitter.com/e8kleFCzSB

28/03/24

House Points - we like to take every opportunity to recognise and celebrate the effort and achievement of students at SJL. As a result of Merit Marks, ACE Cards, Faculty Commendations and Head’s Commendations awarded throughout term, the House Points tally to date is... pic.twitter.com/WpR8tdpO9q

28/03/24

Well done to everyone taking part in our Big Challenge - Ryder are in the lead, closely followed by Newton. King have some catching up to do, so make sure to keep reading over Easter!6 of our incredible students have also achieved 💎 Diamond Award 💎 (more than 52 books!) pic.twitter.com/lfyWABG9xn

28/03/24

Well done to our trio of year 13 A level Drama students who excelled in their text exam on World Theatre Day!#theatrematters#seizetheday pic.twitter.com/bcLn9QrKyF

27/03/24

Fabulous to see our ‘Have you met…?’ event so busy today, with students displaying their interests and hobbies to staff and peers and engaging in great discussion. Well done to all those who took part. pic.twitter.com/BoEULOWtqJ

27/03/24

Some of our Sixth Form students interested in studying medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry listened to the expertise of Devki Shah, a MedSoc consultant, who talked to students about how best to navigate the demanding application process. pic.twitter.com/U5rWv7cpJO

27/03/24

A throwback to Careers Day last week, when over 70 businesses gave employer talks and filled our sports hall to capacity for the Careers Fair. A huge thank you to everyone who took part!https://t.co/xmRh3N1FlM pic.twitter.com/RwaqwWWlZa

27/03/24

A throwback to Careers Day last week, when we welcomed over 70 businesses across the day giving employer talks and filling our sports hall to capacity for the Careers Fair. Thank you to everyone who took part!Careers Day 2024 - News - Sir John Lawes (https://t.co/DpyxjfXNBX) pic.twitter.com/tu1Nmhw8FQ

27/03/24

Day 3 in Valencia, exploring the beautiful Albufera, trying to spot cocodrilos! pic.twitter.com/UU8SG2mQQj

27/03/24

Well done to our Year 12 Enterprise team, Force 10, who raised £2400 for through a series of fundraising events. They won the most money raised and the best presentation. pic.twitter.com/1bBywleZem

26/03/24

Day 2 in Valencia visiting La ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias and the biggest aquarium in Europe pic.twitter.com/m8mxrCi2t0

26/03/24

Day 1 in Valencia. We did a Paella cooking competition, team read were the winners! pic.twitter.com/AHWcMRwjM5

26/03/24

Congratulations to Kate, Ruhani and Tsun who have been awarded Head’s Commendations for passing their Cambridge Latin Course Stage 4 Attainment test with flying colours! pic.twitter.com/KgSgpYRJgk

26/03/24

Such a brilliant evening of debating last night. Big thanks to , and St George's School for joining us and to all the students for their fantastic performances. pic.twitter.com/dHfD3NIHg9

25/03/24

Good luck to all students in our debating teams from Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10 who are taking part in an inter-school debating competition later today! pic.twitter.com/gVFDqhOjD2

25/03/24

Wishing our Year 12 art students and our Year 9 and Year 10 Spanish students a safe and memorable trip in Valencia. Have a great time! pic.twitter.com/w61y8dNCJw

25/03/24

Don't forget our School Uniform Sale after school today - 3.30pm-5.30pm in the school hall. pic.twitter.com/pRWVklZXQD

23/03/24

Last Saturday morning of the year ⚽️ 4 wins vs. Simon Balle 7s W 4-18s W 4-1 9s W 6-010s W 9-2 Thank you to all the students and parents for a brilliant football season. pic.twitter.com/IVWONzbLJ4

23/03/24

Perfect morning for Football. Thanks to all the staff who give up their free time to provide these opportunities. pic.twitter.com/zoj7NKNYQA

22/03/24

It looks like Year 7 had a fantastic day at Warwick Castle! https://t.co/NJEVG5onon

22/03/24

Some of our Year 11 German students enjoyed conversations with the Friends of Alzey who kindly came to visit to assist our students with further speaking practise ahead of their GCSE’s. pic.twitter.com/bNcN2NpEj9

22/03/24

The Second-Hand School Uniform Sale will take place on Monday 25 March from 3.30pm-5.00pm in the School Hall. All the uniform in stock has been freshly laundered and folded. Please note, card payments are preferred. pic.twitter.com/FWOYZP6pea

22/03/24

Zoo de Lunaret pic.twitter.com/zjgMRA1WSd

21/03/24

Yesterday we welcomed author Anna Mazzola who talked about becoming a writer, her creative process and publishing journey. We’re really grateful for the inspirational insights and encouragement Anna gave our students and for the copy of 'Book of Secrets'! pic.twitter.com/gf6AWccWYL

21/03/24

Year 10 drama students are studying the play 1984. To support their understanding of director and designer roles, they created model set boxes of key scenes and then used torches and coloured film gels to explore possible lighting design decisions. Brilliant creativity! pic.twitter.com/eRYBJyDUrY

Sustainability and Ethics

Introduction

Sustainable development is a priority at Sir John Lawes School. We strive to ensure that it is a key part of the curriculum as well as a prominent feature in the way the school is managed. Pupils have demonstrated a keen interest in contributing to sustainable development and have taken a lead on many initiatives around the school. Our Eco-Schools group has made a significant contribution to developing the school’s commitment to sustainability and in 2022 Sir John Lawes became one of the first schools in Hertfordshire to achieve the Green Flag with Distinction award, a reflection of all the hard work completed across the school.

In the classroom

Sustainable development is a core part of the curriculum in Geography, Science, Citizenship and Design and Technology but also features in some way in the majority of subject areas.

Examples of work that students carry out within other areas of the curriculum include:

Technology - Year 9:

Junk sculpture project – students collect junk and use variety of products that would be thrown away as a starting point for a design & make project

Life Skills – Year 8:

Environmental issues unit covering topics such as sustainable development and global warming.

Animal Studies and Conservation – Year 9:

In this enrichment course pupils develop their understanding of local, national and international efforts to conserve the natural environment

Geography – Year 9:

Students investigate how sustainable the town of Harpenden is

MFL – GCSE:

Students learn vocabulary relating to environmental issues

We also have an annual Green Week organised by students from the eco-schools group in which they encourage staff to incorporate green themes into their lessons.

Past activities for this have included:

RE – Year 7:

Students produced posters on how Buddhism promotes green living.

Maths – Year 9:

Comparison of costs of low energy versus normal light bulbs.

Around school

Our eco-schools group and Junior Leadership Team created a school ‘Eco-Code’ to summarise the actions that they felt we should all be taking to improve the sustainability of our school.

Our Eco Code:

  • If you are not using the lights, turn them off.
  • Instead of leaving your TV on standby, turn it off completely
  • When you have finished with the computer, turn it off
  • Close windows and doors to prevent wasting heat in the winter
  • Use as much natural light as you can
  • Think: do you really need to print that? And if so, could you fit it on less paper?
  • Recycle paper and plastic using the school recycling bins
  • Try to walk to school or use the public transport instead of travelling by car
  • Turn off dripping taps - it saves money and energy!
  • Remember to look after the environment you live in

Examples of specific actions the school has taken to ensure greater sustainability include:

Energy: We have an energy monitoring system and use data from this to remind the school community about the importance of saving energy. We encourage students and staff to turn off lights and computers when they are not using them and have a programme to switch off computers at the end of the day.

Waste: We encourage students and staff to reduce waste. One measure we have taken is to allocate printer ‘credits’ to give more of an incentive to think before printing.  Another initiative has been to design our own mugs made out of recycled material which are now used for meetings rather than disposable cups. Our eco-schools group have worked to encourage others to be more responsible with their waste through delivering assemblies and improving the labelling on our bins.

Water: We have installed water flow regulators to the cisterns that flush the men’s urinals which has resulted in significant water saving.

Biodiversity: We have a dedicated biodiversity area behind in which pupils from the eco-schools group have put up bird feeders and are in the process of building a bug hotel. This is an ongoing project and any ideas would be welcome of other things to include.

In the community

We try to make an effort to contribute to sustainability outside our own school. Students have been involved in delivering assemblies and workshops on themes such as climate change and waste reduction in a number of local primary schools. Last year our Sixth Form ‘Green Leaders’ delivered assemblies on food miles to several local primary schools.

Our Leading Practioner for Global Dimension and Sustainable Development spends half a day a week supporting other schools in the county to develop activities in this area. This includes running the St Albans City and District Sustainable Schools Ambassador Programme. Over the last 5 years we have trained over 300 ambassadors from nearly 50 local schools. During their training they learn about what it means to be a sustainable school and explore what they can do to make a difference. They go on to carry out at least one activity a term aimed at making their school more sustainable.

Internationally

We recognise that many environmental problems might have both local and global consequences. We encourage students to think beyond the impact of our actions on our own lives and to think about the consequences further afield.

For example, in 2013, several of our students attended a conference on Farmers Feeding our World run by Oxfam in which they were challenged to think about some of the challenges facing food producers around the world as well as to think about what they could do in response to these challenges. 

Eco-Schools

Eco-Schools is a global sustainable schools programme which helps schools work towards becoming more environmentally friendly and improving sustainability. By attending the Eco Schools club, called Sustainable SJL,  students learn about pressing environmental issues which they care deeply about, such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Eco Schools provides a seven step framework for making a difference in school, in the local community and beyond. Each year schools work toward the prestigious Green Flag award which recognises the efforts made by the school to improve sustainability, which Sir John Lawes has achieved for over ten years. In 2021 a merit or distinction award was introduced for those schools who go beyond the basic seven step criteria. In summer 2022 Sir John Lawes became one of the first schools in Hertfordshire to achieve the Green Flag with Distinction award, a reflection of all the hard work completed across the school. Sustainable SJL meet weekly at lunchtime, and are supported by the sustainability leaders from each form class.

Some of the sustainability achievements that helped us achieve this award are:

  • Running a ‘Switch off’ campaign to encourage students and staff to turn off unused lights and monitors
  • Raising awareness and reducing use of single use masks during the pandemic
  • Sharing tips and recipes for plant based meals
  • Growing indoor plants from cutting to put in each form class
  • Growing our own produce in the Eco-Garden which has sold to staff, and used in the canteen
  • The school planted over 1000 trees at Porters Hill Park
  • Climate Action Group organised climate protests at lunchtime, uniform swap shops and led assemblies to raise awareness
  • Sir John Lawes organised and led the Climate and Environmental Sustainability Conference held at Rothamsted Conference centre with all trust schools attending
  • Sustainability being taught across the curriculum including in geography, science, art, business studies, religious studies and PE

Sustainable schools ambassadors

Sir John Lawes are the hub school for the St Albans and District Sustainable School Ambassador Programme. This is a district wide scheme that aims to make schools more sustainable at the same time as bringing together students and teachers from across the district. All participating schools nominate two ambassadors who will serve for a year. These ambassadors are then invited to attend a training day held at Sir John Lawes, where they learn more about the issues facing us today and what they can do to help. All ambassadors are then expected to undertake at least one activity per term to help make their school and the wider community more sustainable.

SJL also runs a Green Leaders Programme for Sixth Form students for local schools which involves training a group of Sixth Formers to deliver assemblies in primary schools. Last year our Green Leaders delivered assemblies on food miles to three local schools. 

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