Our Sustainability Programme

Our Lady of the Visitation was fortunate to be successful in applying for a Sustainability Manager as part of the Sustainability Managers for Schools programme supported by Ealing Council.

Rachel Warren joined Our Lady of the Visitation in September 2024 and has been working with Mrs Rice to set up an Eco-Club and evaluate the carbon footprint of the school. There have been several surveys completed by the Eco-Club children, parents and staff of Our Lady of the Visitation. The Eco-Club children undertook an audit of the school in one of their early meetings to understand how the school performs against 11 key sustainability topics. Using this information, the children developed three key projects which they prepared and presented to school leadership. All the children did such an amazing job and managed to get all the projects approved and embedded into the school’s Climate Action Plan which will be reviewed every year according to the school’s new Climate Action Plan Policy.

The Carbon footprint for the school is currently 470 tonnes which equates to just over 1 tonne of carbon per child. This is 13% higher than an average primary school and we would need to plant 40 trees per child to offset this.

With an ever warming planet and noticeably more unusual weather patterns we must take action. Educating the pupils about sustainability and providing them with knowledge and skills for future green careers is an Our Lady of the Visitation priority. It is a joy to see the children getting involved, growing their knowledge and realising they, as a team and individuals, can make a difference.

The three projects signed off for the children include:

Save the Watts – an energy awareness and reduction project.

The Plastic Revolution – a campaign to understand the amount of single-use plastic we have in school and look at ways to reduce this including through workshops.

Nature Ninja’s Wildlife Reserve – pupils will assess the overgrown areas and pond area at the back of the school grounds and with expert advise create habitats, food and water for more wildlife, pollinators, birds etc. We hope to add a bird hide so children and adults alike can watch the wildlife.

The other Projects that are in the Climate Action plan for the school include:

• Education – ensuring staff become more knowledgeable and confident in sustainability and to make it easy for teachers to bring this into their teaching.
• Food – working with Ealing Council and the canteen suppliers to reduce how much food is being wasted and ensuring what is wasted is correctly removed from site. Currently we put 3.6 tonnes straight into landfill. That is the size of two 7-seater 4x4s! Looking at how we can increase the amount of vegetable meals chosen instead of meat.
• Active Travel – looking at how we can all use more active travel to get to and from school. Compared to other schools the Vis has plenty of opportunity to get fitter, healthier and more sustainable when it comes to travel to and from school.
• Procurement – ensuring we are more conscious of how we buy and making sure there is an end-of-life clause in contracts where applicable.
• Short term Sustainability Campaigns – we have already recycled 25kg of cables and organised a fancy dress and Christmas jumper swap. More will follow.
• Gardening Club – setting up and supporting a new Gardening Club.
• Solar Panels – we will do a feasibility study on the potential to put solar panels in school.

If you would like to learn more or support the school’s sustainability ambitions, please email: RachelWarren@sustainabilitymanagersforschools.org