Eco School & Sustainability

Eco-School Green Flag with Distinction

Ewell Castle Prep School has been awarded "Eco-School Green Flag with Distinction".  The Eco Schools organisation were particularly impressed with how different departments have embedded sustainability within their curriculum at both the Prep and Senior School sites.  They noted "It's fantastic to see that environmental issues have become an integral part of your learning.  The examples provided demonstrate how staff members have effectively used this environmental focus to enhance lessons and learning.  Pass on my thank you to the staff members who have willingly adapted their lessons to align with an environmental and sustainability focus."   They also noted "Our team has been astounded by your amazing application.  Our only concern is that we might not been able to express in words how impressed and grateful we are to have educators who go so far above and beyond to engage young people in environmental action.  Congratulations on your Eco-Schools Green Flag with Distinction."

Sustainability at the Prep School

On a global scale, the topic of ‘sustainability’ seems overwhelming and the accompanying statistics depressing. At Ewell Castle Prep School, we work to encourage ‘nature positive’ humans and to show our pupils that they CAN make a difference to seemingly insurmountable issues.

We are lucky enough to have a fabulous outdoor space, including a mature, walled garden with shrubs, flowers and grassy areas in which to play. Our pupils learn to love this space and through playing within it, we encourage them to become custodians of everything we have here. Every child just needs to do a ‘little bit’ in their custodian role, and they’re shown that in fact our open space is reliant on them doing their bit. They see first-hand that if they protect the flowers that grow, then pollinators will come; that if we compost their orange peel and apple cores, we can create new soil. They see first-hand that their actions DO positively impact nature. To cement this, we involve ourselves in local projects such as the new Chambermead Wetlands in West Ewell as well as national campaigns such as the Big Plastic Count and RSPB Birdwatch.

We have an active and enthusiastic Eco Club who help promote and facilitate child-led projects. In recent times, these children have run a successful Christmas Jumper Swap and a Book Exchange as well as working to increase recycling in our classrooms to include items such as pens and glue sticks.