Year 1 - Clean Air Day

Year 1 went on a walk to Sparkhill Park to observe the lichen on the trees. The type of lichen that grows indicates whether we live in an area of high or low pollution.

Unfortunately, our findings indicated that we live in an area of high pollution. As a year group we have pledged to walk, cycle or scoot to school more often to try and reduce the air pollution in our local community.

Year 2

#CleanAirDay

Clean Air Day, The UK's largest air pollution campaign

Every year, air pollution causes up to 36,000 deaths in the UK.  The World Health Organisation and the UK Government recognise that air pollution is the largest environmental health risk we face today. Look at o

how year 2 are hoping to make a difference. 

Clean Air Day in 6A

Every year, air pollution causes up to 36,000 deaths in the UK.  The World Health Organisation and the UK Government recognise that air pollution is the largest environmental health risk we face today. 6A enjoyed exploring what we can do to help and made pledges to ensure we put our words into actions.

Clean Air Day in Year 4 

For Clean Air Day we discussed why it was so important for us to reduce air pollution. How polluted air affects our brains, lungs and heart. We pledged to support the reduction of air pollution by planting seeds to grow more plants and trees. We then created our very own Clean Air superhero, to help us in this fight. 

Our World Our Future Drama Workshop

6a thoroughly enjoyed learning all their is to know about climate change and how they can make a difference.

On Friday 7^th February 2020 a group of five Year 6 students (Rusul, Ayaan, Andrea, Sadeen and Salome) attended the WE Schools Youth Summit on Environmental Issues at the University of Birmingham. Around 20 different schools from across the city attended the event.

We met in the Student Council Chambers and the day started with an introduction to the organisation (a charity working to get young people involved in social action projects) and their message: “One person can make a change, but together we can change the world”.

Following this we were split into smaller groups and completed a series of workshops. These included:

• The ‘100 day nap’ activity – the children imagined what the world would be like if they woke up from a nap in 100 years’ time and presented their ideas to the rest of the group in the style of a news programme
• A brief introduction to some of the major environmental issues affecting our planet both locally and globally – Fast Fashion, Air Pollution, Food Production, Food Waste, Plastic and Recycling, Litter, Trees and Wildlife
• Project Action Plan – after learning about the different types of action we can take to bring about social change (fundraising, political, raising awareness, behaviour change) the children were asked to come up with an idea for tackling one of the above issues in their school/community

Our children chose to focus on the issue of ‘Plastic and Recycling’. Their idea is to install recycling bins decorated with colourful designs and factual information about the importance of recycling in our school and the local area, as well as raising awareness through posters, assemblies, workshops and parent meetings. They thought about the practical steps they would need to take to achieve this and also came up with a great slogan: “Let’s make our future greener, and Sparkhill cleaner!”

After sharing ideas with the rest of our workshop group, one school was chosen to present their project idea to everybody else back in the Council Chambers… English Martyrs’ was chosen and the children did a fantastic job as you can see!

We all thoroughly enjoyed the day and learnt a lot. In addition to attending the Youth Summit we had some time to explore the fantastic UoB campus! The children returned to school feeling inspired and motivated to move forward with their action plan… watch this space for further updates!

ENGLISH MARTYRS' JUNIOR PCSOs

The Junior PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) scheme is aimed to empower children to take responsibility for issues that affect them, whilst giving them the knowledge and confidence to turn their concerns into action.

The Junior PCSOs have chosen to focus their efforts into tackling the littering problem in and around the Sparkhill area. With the help of PCSO Rachel Ryan, the children will take charge and find a course of action to deter the local community from destroying our precious planet.

Let's meet our Junior PCSOs...

ZERO HERO CAMPAIGN

The world we live in is changing because of climate change. English Martyrs' pupils are speaking up now to look after our world. We are calling on adults to help the UK reach net zero emissions by 2045. This means only putting the same amount of emissions into the atmosphere as we take out. The UK reaching net zero will mean that we no longer contribute to climate change. We all want to be zero heroes!

Article 24 - We all have the right to a clean and safe environment.

Article 4   -The Government has a responsibility to make sure your rights are protected.

Letters to our MP

The pupils have written letters to our local MP calling on him to be a Zero Hero too! Mr Godsiff wrote back to the pupils of English Martyrs' to tell us he fully supported our campaign and is working with the Government to ensure we become a carbon neutral nation.