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23/03/23

Retweeted From Georgia Mitrousia

Thank you for hosting Research! Great to reach out to so many enthusiastic students - the future of science is in great hands! https://t.co/Uy2sAo6poE https://t.co/ODG3QkNdX6

23/03/23

An eventful day is brought to a close by an inter generational conversation cafe with a focus on how all generations can help combat climate change. https://t.co/1R1UKiKvU1

23/03/23

Thanks to the staff from CAMHS for delivering a specific workshop to yr11 and yr13 parents on how to cope with the stresses of the exam season. https://t.co/1SHmEzp6si

23/03/23

Retweeted From SRA_SixthForm

Thank you to for hosting a fab careers event today. Our Year 12s had a great time talking to the different representatives and found the whole experience really helpful! A big 📢 shout out to our students who managed to organise their work experience placements too! https://t.co/0OuGgCBSVh

23/03/23

Retweeted From Rothamsted Research

Was a pleasure to take part and meet such enthusiastic students 👏👏 https://t.co/YoL2l3BJeU

23/03/23

Diary reminder - the Year 11 and Year 13 Exam Stress and Anxiety Workshop takes place this evening at 5.30pm in the Drama Theatre. https://t.co/2pPCuPmNrH

23/03/23

SJL Cultural Enrichment Day - Year 10 preparing for their model General Assembly of the United Nations debate. https://t.co/wAO4kFkhp7

23/03/23

SJL Careers Day 2023 - Amazing to see the Careers Fair in action, students engaging with companies about careers options and the routes into employment https://t.co/wlHF2bOkOv

23/03/23

SJL Cultural Enrichment Day - Year 9 enjoying various activities focusing on international trade, consumption and sustainability. https://t.co/JrKVrEdLwp

23/03/23

SJL Cultural Enrichment Day - Year 10 preparing for their model General Assembly of the United Nations debate. https://t.co/m5OMO2niLC

23/03/23

SJL Cultural Enrichment Day - Year 7 building connections using creativity. https://t.co/W3JIp7w1S1

23/03/23

SJL Cultural Enrichment Day - Year 8 learning about different cultures through dance. Practising for their performance. https://t.co/1HPh5uFeJv

23/03/23

SJL Cultural Enrichment Day - Year 7 begin with an assembly on “Children Around the World” https://t.co/qhG9cKgbZX

22/03/23

Retweeted From SJL Ecoschools

Sweet peas, red dwarf beans, lettuce and coriander, all sown today. It’s great to get out in the sunshine and enjoy the spring air! Our flowering bulbs are beautiful this year. https://t.co/7AXbJzQUnY

22/03/23

Retweeted From SJL PE Faculty

DOUBLE DISTRICT CUP WINNERS 🏆🏆 Congratulations to both the: Year 8s 2-0 vs Roundwood Park Year 10s 3-1 vs St Albans School For producing a historic afternoon for SJL Football. Read more on our Instagram! Hugely proud of all the players involved. Enjoy every minute. https://t.co/ZV6l01MMit

22/03/23

Our award-winning Careers Day takes place tomorrow - a fantastic opportunity for Sixth Form students to connect with employers representing a diverse range of companies and to discover more about the vast range of career options available to them. Year 12 - smart business attire https://t.co/TsQOQ6eALP

22/03/23

Thursday is Cultural Enrichment Day - students across the school will take time off timetable for the opportunity to engage in a range of enrichment activities. Students in Years 7-11 can attend in non uniform. Year 12 must be in smart business attire for the Careers Day. https://t.co/b8GM56gGYP

22/03/23

Retweeted From Scholars' Education Trust

We are hiring! Looking for the next opportunity? We are an expanding multi academy trust based in Hertfordshire, seeking to appoint an experienced Payroll Manager. Apply now: https://t.co/c0R8vPaUXK https://t.co/PgcGyjE9fv

22/03/23

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the Intergenerational Conversation Café event tomorrow night, being organised by our Climate Action Group – a chance to discuss climate action across generations. If you’d like to come along please contact us. https://t.co/yVvrElCsv0

22/03/23

Year 9 students receiving Headteacher Commendations, so lovely to see them embody the values of ACE. https://t.co/MymizKsSgR

21/03/23

Retweeted From SJLdrama

Great year 9 Drama performances at The Grove Junior school this afternoon raising awareness of friendship and online issues in such an entertaining way#theatrematters#nationaldramaseizetheday https://t.co/RS9je0WsIN

21/03/23

Retweeted From SJL PE Faculty

The final game of netball for this amazing team. The year 11 girls won 20-19 to Marlborough today. Huge congratulations to Ria A who was nominated as players player. Well done girls very proud of you all. https://t.co/E53V1T8Tfo

21/03/23

Every week students discuss our 'word of the week' and 'thought of the week' within their form groups, these discussions help to build upon their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. https://t.co/eOCBd3Gk00

21/03/23

Lots of students enjoying our lunchtime Chess Club today, it's great fun for all skill levels. All of our co-curricular activities can be found on the school website - https://t.co/Qa10Hfd2iu https://t.co/DEnOfUSi63

20/03/23

Retweeted From SJL PE Faculty

Year 10 District Cup Semi Final ⚽️ SJL 2 - 1 Verulam White ⚽️ (pen) Platt ⚽️ The boys reaching their 1st DISTRICT CUP FINAL! Goalkeeping heroics from T.Lloyd see us clinch a deserved victory! Final Details: 🗓️ Wednesday 22nd ⏰ 4.30pm KO 🏟️ Woollams Vs St Albans School https://t.co/Lz0sBVmkFF

20/03/23

Yr8 Headteacher Commendations awarded for a range of academic and co-curricular achievements. A great start to the week. https://t.co/sLRnb41UkC

19/03/23

Retweeted From Herts High Sheriff

N&E Herts Bench magistrates guided and judged, emphasising how hard it had been to decide. Delighted to present certificates to all the students and a trophy to the winners. 2/2

19/03/23

Retweeted From Herts High Sheriff

Congratulations to the students of Sir John Lawes School in Harpenden for winning their round of the national mock trial competition in Stevenage Magistrates’ Court. Four schools competed, playing every role from magistrates and lawyers to defendants and witnesses. 1/2 https://t.co/LpNor7c9aY

18/03/23

A Level English Battlefields tour continues with the group visiting Thiepval, Memorial to the missing of the Somme and Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial. https://t.co/M1j1Dg2w67

18/03/23

Retweeted From SJL PE Faculty

Yr 8 and 9 Saturday Morning Results Vs Nicholas Breakspear Yr8 won 8-0 A. Davies scores 4 ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ Yr9 won 4-0 ⚽️ https://t.co/4BTX6rSoLH

18/03/23

Retweeted From SJL PE Faculty

Yr7 Football - Saturday Morning Vs. Nicholas Breakspear 7A won 4-0 7B won 4-3 2 brilliant games of football this morning. The boys in both teams were outstanding coming out victorious. Ethan and Henry Hatrick Hero’s ⚽️⚽️⚽️ https://t.co/AjP1sgID8Y https://t.co/cJ4Tubi0iB

17/03/23

A thought provoking and insightful day for the A level English students as they spend a day touring the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium. https://t.co/Jahrel0Bfd

17/03/23

Huge congratulations to SJL alumni David Ijiti. https://t.co/4OtoXY7tpY

17/03/23

This week's newsletter is out... https://t.co/1ELzXhgeBe https://t.co/R8f2LB6K4y

17/03/23

Happy St Patrick’s Day! To help celebrate we’ve got a fabulous display of brilliant books with green covers in our library. https://t.co/ceKQ96DPoQ

17/03/23

What a wonderful morning handing out Head Teacher Commendations to some very deserving year 7 students. https://t.co/7nWmLzdkxz

17/03/23

Harrison, one of our Heads of School doing a reading at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, the second largest Commonwealth Cemetery in Belgium. https://t.co/UglQsu2ZOu

16/03/23

Retweeted From SJL PE Faculty

Senior 1st XI Highlights from our District Cup QF 3-1 win against Sandringham this week. Clark ⚽️ F.Sweeting ⚽️ ⚽️ https://t.co/BryZ2gBmpP https://t.co/6H3ojzZMw5

16/03/23

Retweeted From SJL PE Faculty

U16 Girls suffer penalty shootout heartbreak in County Cup semi final after leading twice. Superb performance from all but sadly not to be! https://t.co/U0qPwm5Snf

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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