BGS Briefing July 3rd 2013 1

In This Week’s Briefing: In this extra special ‘eco’ Briefing this week, you will find eco extravaganza interviews with

staff and students. We also have lots of information on potential pond life, shorthand

suggestions and increasingly startling statistics! The whole Briefing this week has been put

together by the Eco Team and a group of ‘Roving Reporters’ - a brilliant achievement!

03/07/2013

EDITORS: Andrew Walker, Danielle Buckland (both 9A), Miss Shave, Mr Worthington

CONTRIBUTORS: Pritesh Patel, Magda Mazur (both 8E), Emily Davidson, Payas Sinha (both 8D), Burnham Park E-Act Academy

July Calendar 5th Y6 & & 7 Welcome Disco

8th-9th Year 8 Phasels Wood

9th Y10 Chemistry careers day

10th Year 9 Paintballing

11th-12th Year 7 Longridge

16th Junior Speech Day Y7&8 10–

11.30am, Y9 &10 @ 1.30-3.00pm.

17th Sports Day

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students,

This week sees the launch of Eco Week with

students involved in a variety of activities aimed

at limiting the environmental impact of the

school and establishing benchmarks for the

biodiversity of the site in order to monitor

measures designed to increase it. We will also be

linking with community groups, Burnham Park

Academy and local primary schools in this

Burnham-wide initiative.

A key focus will be limiting energy usage by

using lights and electronic devices only when

necessary. At a time when schools are facing

significant pressures on their budgets, energy

costs of £8000 a month are a key part of our

expenditure where improvements can be made.

Please support the school by reinforcing the key

messages of Eco week at home. At such a busy

time of the year I am extremely grateful for the

hard work and imagination of Mr Bainbridge and

Mr Worthington in designing such a fantastic

programme of events.

Dr Gillespie

On your

bike!

BGS Briefing July 3rd 2013 2

Poor reports for BGS…”but we’re developing”

By Emily Davidson, 8D

Burnham Grammar School’s Eco Team has found

some controversial but by all means truthful reports

from staff, students and sixth formers.

The Eco team interviewed many people at BGS, but

unfortunately most of our responses talked about how

“poor” the eco-friendly attitude at the school is,

although many claim it is “improving”.

When we asked a year 7 class “if you could sum up

the school’s eco-friendly attitude in one word, what

would you use?” Many students replied with “okay”,

and said that it could be improved. Ideas they

recommended include solar panels; sun roofs;

growing their own food supplies and double glazed

windows.

We also asked many other people the same question,

and they said things such as “fake” “poor”

“improving”, and other similar words.

When we spoke to Mr Worthington, he told us that

only 10% of the schools light bulbs are energy efficient,

£2000 a year is spent on waste, and he’d like to see £0

spent a year on waste in five years time. We then

asked him if he thought the school was eco-friendly.

His reply was “In one word? No. But we’re developing

an awareness.”

So is the school improving or developing? Well, many

people think so. With Ms. Johnson using scrap paper

for her lessons and plans for more energy efficient light

bulbs, it looks like we’re on our way to a greener day.

POND LIFE CAN DO THEIR BIT

By Payas Sinha, 8D & Danielle

Buckland, 9A below with Dr

Gillespie

Dr. Gillespie has given the Roving

Reporters an insight into how the

school is going to move forward,

with regards to its environmental

friendliness.

To start off, he described the school

as being fairly eco-friendly. As

students of this school, we agree

with this. At the moment, the

school’s expenditure for gas and

electricity is £8000 a month. Dr.

Gillespie suggested that to cut

down on this and make people

aware, we should do some simple

things, for example, turning off

lights and computers when not

needed, to save money. He also

commented on how the school is

not energy efficient as the buildings

in the school are 50 years old. Dr.

Gillespie said how we could

replace the 50-year-old windows

with new ones because the old

windows, which are single glazed,

let a lot of heat out.

Another point that he covered was

that pupils at BGS should be more

careful about where they buy their

food from. Dr. Gillespie emphasised

the fact that purchasing food from

sustainable sources was very

important. He also mentioned how

there is a large biodiversity within

the school, encouraged by the

large variety of plants. Mr

Worthington’s orchard is an

example of this and it is one of the

best spots for wildlife. Dr. Gillespie

then suggested that a pond would

encourage more species of wildlife

to come, including amphibians,

insects, and other vertebrates.

However, he was quick to point out

that he did not want the pond to

be in his office!

Near the end of the interview, he

said “We need to make sure that

the site is more energy efficient.”

And when we asked him how he

would describe the school’s

environmentally friendliness in one

word, he said…

“Developing…”

BGS Briefing July 3rd 2013 3

BGS eco power – will it ever improve?

By Magda Mazur 8E

As eco week started in Burnham, we discovered

how eco-friendly the school is. Most feedback

received from students and teachers was that

the school ‘needs improvement’ in being more

eco-friendly.

Our Head Boy, Ollie Blackley, when asked a ques-

tion on how eco-friendly he thinks the school is,

said, “it’s improving” and that there are “a lot of

strategies on the way.” Another strategy that Ollie

mentioned was to increase the cycle routes

around the school: “We could get a huge group

of cyclists to cycle down Hogfair Lane.” This idea

would attract the attention of the Council in or-

der to increase the cycle routes around the

school. When asked for ways to improve, Ollie

said that “The canteen could encourage the

healthy eating programme” and that “there is

definitely room for improvement.” When asked if

he knew that the school’s energy bill is £8000 a

month he said yes and that “it needs to change.”

A way that Ollie said the school could improve

was doing little things like energy saving light

bulbs.

Overall, as mentioned by teachers and students,

Burnham Grammar School has “room for im-

provement.”

Shorthand score for the Eco

Team—By Pritesh Patel, 8E

On Tuesday 2nd July, six of

Burnham Grammar’s Year 8 and

9s and Burnham Park E-act

Academy’s year 7s came

together to form the eco team,

to help make Burnham

Grammar a more eco-friendly

place. We were visited by

Michael Owens, a journalist from

the Maidenhead Advertiser,

who inspired us with his words of

r e p o r t i n g w i s d o m .

Below the eco report team

with Michael Owens

Maidenhead Advertiser

reporter in centre

He shared his vast knowledge

and top tips about journalism,

especially how to grab the

reader in such a limited space

and keep the attention of the

audience throughout the

article.

By far the most impressive part

of the workshop had to be his

use of shorthand. Shorthand is

an amazing alphabet of

symbols and markings, which in

the journalist world is used when

note-taking. Not only is it an

extensive alphabet but also

every word is a combination of

the letters in the word.

It took Michael several months

to learn this and he spent 3-4

hours a day trying to learn this

extremely difficult alphabet.

Many of the students found it

very confusing but enjoyed

learning about it very much.

Michael then mentioned a

shocking but useful journalistic

top tip: “KILL YOUR BABIES”, and

when explained it’s very

insightful: if you have a piece in

your article that takes up too

much space, you should ‘kill’

any extra information you don’t

need.

Both students and teachers of

Burnham Grammar and

Burnham Park E-act Academy

learnt a great deal from

Michael Owens, his super

shorthand and tremendous

techniques—thank you!

BGS Briefing July 3rd 2013 4

Departments devour opportunity to promote ‘eco’

Each department has contributed something different this week, with the sensational scientists

completing a Biodiversity survey in collaboration with year 2 students from St Mary’s. They have also

been involved in constructing a bee colony and completing mini-beast surveys, thanks to the help of

Ms Eaves and Mr Farry. In addition, year 12 Geography conservationists conducted fieldwork in

Burnham Beeches to investigate Tree Biodiversity and Health as part of the OPAL National Survey.

There has also been some exciting work in the English department with students creating poems out

of recycled newspaper and old books. Miss Shave said “Our eco-lessons have helped us to

encourage students to think about wider environmental issues, not just locally, but around the world

too.” But there’s more to come: from using organic foods in Food Tech, more tree surveys in Maths

and various campaigns from DT and Art—this is an Eco Week we will never forget.

Next week: check out our new Eco – Code, which is the topic of this week’s PSHCE lessons—we will

be one step closer to achieving that Silver Eco Award.

The Eco Committee

The eco committee (shown on cover)

was set up to try to campaign for more

environmental awareness, and as a side

goal, to try and achieve a silver eco

badge for the school’s CV. It goes about

achieving these goals by writing audits

to work out what needs to improve, and

then comes up with an action plan with

which to lobby Dr. Gillespie and the

governors.

If you would like to get involved in the

action with the eco committee, contact

Mr. Worthington or Mr Banin.

What can we do to help?

The 2008 Climate Change Act requires the

UK to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions

by at least 34% below 1990 levels by 2020 and

by at least 80% by 2050. Schools can do a lot to

help the UK reach its target, especially as a

recent report from the Department of

Education revealed that “schools account for

around 2% of UK greenhouse gas emissions,

roughly the same as all the energy and

t r a n s p o r t e m i s s i o n s i n

Manchester” (TeachSecondary, 2013).

Litter Picks

A recent litter audit showed that throughout the

school, the litter situation is being handled well,

except with the field. Though Litter Picking is

done by tutor groups on a rota, the litter

still left is noticeable. People should be

encouraged to hold onto their litter until

they find a bin.

KEEP IT, BIN IT, DON’T JUST DROP IT!

Startling Stats! 5000 photocopies on some days

£8000 per month for gas and

electricity

Only10% of light bulbs energy saving

700+ KwH used on weekdays

250 or so still used on weekends,

(even though no one is in!)

We recycle nothing except ink

cartridges and paper.

We don’t compost food, or recycle

plastic bottles and cans among

others

Mr Fox thinks he picks up 1000

pieces of litter every day!

02468

10

Rating of the school property for its

cleanliness by students out of 10

BeforLitter

Picking

e

This graph shows

how clean students

think the school is

before and after a

litter pick.

BGS Briefing July 3rd 2013 5

BURNHAM PARK NO LITTER LOUTS!

Litter is the biggest problem this world is facing. But not Burnham Park Academy as we recycle

every day with no hesitation. Burnham Park Academy throws litter in the bin when they see it. In

past years Burnham Park Academy struggled

with the litter problems they had. But all is dif-

ferent now, and on this very day they are

rated the cleanest school in whole of Bucking-

hamshire. Burnham Park are at the top of the

rankings for the cleanest school.

BURNHAM TAKES ECO ACTION!

This week its eco week and Burnham Park Academy

are thinking of ways to help the world be a greener

place. Burnham Park E-ACT Academy are introducing

new features to the school, such as a compost bin

and more bins around the school to stop litter. A new

holiday is being invented called ‘lights off week’

where you do not turn the lights on in class. In art we

are using recycled materials like crisp packets and

sweet wrappers to make costumes made out of recy-

cled willow and Papier Mache that people will wear

to celebrate eco week in the Burnham parade.

We interviewed Mrs. Malik (our recycling queen) and

she spoke passionately about recycling and how she

believes every class should have a recycling bin in the

classroom and also that we should all contribute to

recycling paper and saving the trees.

The national grid which keeps the world going is slowly

falling apart which is terrible and the only way to stop

is to take serious action now; people all over the world

are trying to save electricity and if we don't act fast

there are going to be brownouts all over the world in

different areas. That is why we as a school community

are turning off lights when not needed, turning off

switches and also trying to stop using devices that use

too much electricity. Burnham Park Academy is doing

their part in the best way they can.

SO:

STOP and switch off lights.

HELP the national grid become

stronger.

ACT and save electricity.

This page has been written by a wonderful team of students from Burnham Park E-ACT Academy. They

spent the day at BGS (photo below) as part of our ‘Roving Reporters’ group. A huge thanks goes to: Ra-

yan Feroze, Rushi Patel, James Johnston, Inida Qevani, Kiran Singh, Chloe Forbes and Annabelle Lovett.

BGS Briefing July 3rd 2013 6

O2—Recycle for Schools

We have signed up to o2 Recy-

cle for Schools, an innovative

recycling campaign which rais-

es funds for the school through

the collection of mobile phones

and other electronic gadgets.

O2 Recycle for Schools devel-

ops the pupils’ enterprise skills

as well as teaching them about

recycling and the importance

of protecting the environment.

The school receives cash in

exchange for these items ena-

bling us to buy vital equipment

and resources.

You can support our o2 recycle

for Schools initiative. All you

have to do is save any old small

electronic gadgets. Gadgets

we are looking for include:

Mobile Phones

MP3/iPods

Digital Cameras

Handheld Games Consoles

Sat Navs

To support our recycling pro-

gramme simply log on to

www.o2recycleforSchools.co.u

k and recycle online. If you

recycle online, you can find out

how much your gadget is worth

and choose to split the pay-

ment for your gadget between

a donation to our School and a

cash payment for yourself. Al-

ternatively you can donate the

gadget to the school at by

dropping your gadget off at

Reception.

Are we ready for a culture change?

We are measuring our energy consumption

before, during and after eco-week, as you can

see by the image below. There is a live feed

screen in Reception which shows the peaks and

troughs of energy use throughout the day.

With a concerted effort by staff and students,

and the introduction of a new ‘eco credit

scheme’, (where students are awarded ‘eco

points’ for being environmentally friendly), could

we create a change in culture across the

school?

Early indications suggest...YES WE CAN! On

Monday (the start of eco week), we saved £13

compared to a usual Monday. If we keep this up,

we could end up saving about £5000 per year!

Students from St Mary’s with their teacher &sixth

former Jess Warren, measuring trees at BGS.

Rushi and Rayyan reporting from Burnham Park Academy.

“I’m having a great time!” St Mary’s Slough

Y2 student

This week’s edition of the BGS Briefing will only be

available online and during form time. There is a link

to the Briefing on the front page of the BGS website.