Chronicle Spring 2022

37 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

ongoing refurbishment of boarding houses to update heating systems and new buildings such as the Olivier Hall and Christie Centre recycle the heat produced from the people inside them or extract heat from the air outside using an air source heat pump. The house being built for the HM of Apsley is a Passivhaus which will have such high levels of insulation and heat recovery that it will not need to be attached to the gas mains at all. The School has installed many boxes for bats, hedgehogs and owls; it has planted hundreds of native trees over recent years; and, thanks to the Bursar Edward Hayter, will shortly be adding over four hundred more as part of the Queen’s Canopy Project. There are plans to extend the planting of wildflowers, particularly with a view to providing food for the Teddies bees, and the girls of Avenue and Corfe have planted hundreds of insect- friendly bulbs and plants in their shared garden, supported by the Head Groundsman Bob Bowerman who, incredibly, has looked after the School grounds for nearly fifty years. Our new Deputy Head Academic, David Flower, is looking at ways of incorporating sustainability into the PSHEE and Sixth Form enrichment programme. Achieving net zero is a tremendous challenge in which we must all play our part. The Sustainability Committee would welcome the ideas of parents and friends of the School.

Pupil reps have been consulting their Houses for ideas on how the School could reduce its impact on nature. Suggestions include having more vegetarian and fewer meat options and monitoring and publicising food waste; having hot water on a timing system; all lights low energy and motion triggered; and aiming to eliminate single- use plastic in the school (we have already banned plastic water bottles). The very successful clothes swaps organised by some Houses in Great Big Green Week in September have led to a suggestion that we have a whole-school clothes swap facility, perhaps raising money for the school charity in the process. Cooper Lodge were particularly forthcoming with ideas. In a plenary session of the Sustainability Committee in February, the Warden asked interested Sixth Form representatives to contact him about the formation of an Eco Society, to meet on a weekly basis. This is likely to benefit from a planned partnership with Oxford University, in terms of supporting pupil engagement with sustainability. The Estates Bursar, Richard Hayes, is keen to drastically increase the School’s

recycling from the current 20% with the help of staff and pupils. Already, however, all the food waste from Teddies is taken to a biodigester off site to create electricity and fertiliser. Anything that cannot be recycled goes to an Energy for Waste plant where it is burned to create electricity. There is an