News and Updates from the CU team

• October /November Highlights from our WCU News

  Mon 31 Oct 2022
  

• November News

  Mon 31 Oct 2022

  November News

   

  Welcome back to school everyone, we hope you had a great break and got to rest and explore new hobbies and places while you were away.

  Lurky re-sorted all of his toys and doggie mazes (his favourite pass-time) and practised ringing his doggie bell-we are still working on it! He also carved a splendid Halloween pumpkin helmet as his Halloween contribution to festivities-I think it looked smashing!

  How about getting sustainable this winter season now that we are back?

  There are some great projects you can get involved in this November and help the planet too. By visiting https://www.jointhepod.org/campaigns/recycle-to-read-2021 you can join the Pod for free. Here you can enter this November’s Competition to raise awareness about the benefits of recycling and set up a Recycle to Read project at your school. You can work together to collect recycling and then select free reading books from the Pod catalogue as a reward for your planet saving efforts.

  You could try some of GLS’ great Eco School Ideas which are simple eco-school ideas for a lower carbon footprint

   

  1. Encourage good habits

  A green school starts with good daily habits. With so many young feet trudging round the school each day, their impact on your efforts to be more eco-friendly can be huge. Encourage everyone at your school to uphold the very best practices, and those attitudes can quickly become infectious.

  Little reminders round the school, like posters reminding to quick up litter or recycle their waste, can go a long way to getting the ball rolling.

  2. Start a school compost

  If you’ve got a school garden, nothing is more eco-friendly than treating it with your own food waste. Start a school compost and not only will you reduce waste but you’ll also do wonders for the plants in your garden. If you don’t have use for it in school, you can donate to a local allotment instead.

  If you’re in need of some composting advice, the RHS have an excellent guide for schools on this topic. 

  3. Use recycled paper

  No doubt your school gets through tonnes of paper. On top of making sure you are recycling it as much as you can, you can go green and make sure you’re buying recycled in the first place.

  There are plenty of options out there for recycled paper, as well as classroom items like notepads.  

  4. Buy eco-friendly

  The buying green revolution doesn’t have to stop at paper either. Today, there are green options for countless everyday school items. Here are just a few:

  Recycled sticky notes

  Recycled pencils

  Recycled card

  Recycled clipboards

  Recycled plastic wallets

  Zero Plastic Sellotape

  5. Cut down on single use plastics

  Another easy win comes in the form of single use plastics. As an individual, you can buy yourself a reusable water bottle and lunchbox. Encourage staff and pupils members to do the same too.

  Beyond that, small changes like installing water foundations over vending machines (with single use plastic bottles in them) can instigate a change in habit across the school

  6. Start an eco-club

  Raise the next generation of eco-warriors by starting a new after school club all about the environment. There’s plenty of fun stuff you have to excite and embolden the imagination of your pupils and teach them an important message at the same time.

  They could help you out with of the other suggestions in this post, or:

  Help plant and grow seeds in the garden

  Craft bird feeders

  Take part in an eco-quiz

  7. Bring in recycling bins

  Recycling is one of the easiest and quickest wins any school can have when looking to cut their carbon footprint.

  Make it as easy as possible for everyone in your school to comply by placing dedicated recycling bins around the school. Be sure to label them up or communicate to everyone exactly what you can and can’t put in them too.

  8. …and make them more engaging

  For younger kids, it might be worth decorating those recycling bins to make them more fun and engaging too. How about giving it some eyes and teeth to make a monster – they just love eating up all your unwanted plastics!

  9. Bring the outdoors inside

  Don’t let the outdoors be the only place for nice plants or other green spaces. Bring the outdoors inside and make for a much more pleasant environment.

  This might not make a huge difference but making the place a little greener can help to add to the idea that school is a clean, environmentally friendly space. You’ll go some way to making the air cleaner too

  10. Become an official Eco-School

  For those wanted a framework or official accreditation for the efforts to go green in schools, there is a project out there for you.

   

  Eco-schools is a global project to drive positive environmental change in schools. At the end of the seven-step journey, schools can be an official Green Flag Eco-School and take part in their annual awards.   We are working on our next Green Flag and taking part is a great way of getting Eco-Action happening. Don’t forget your Eco Council can post their work and projects safely here on the WCU site.

  We are launching the Primary Engineer Programme which will take the form of themed Projects that include physical resources for 2 classes, teacher training for up to 2 teachers, digital teaching resources, curriculum mapping, links to engineers and invitations to Celebration Events.

  If you or your classmates would like to be involved, let us know and you can join in too.

  We had a great time on the World Re-Imagined trail and Mr K has been creating interactive art with children from across the school to celebrate our participation. We are so excited to be getting ready for our gallery show in Willesden Library.

  lBrick Education at Topsy-Turvy Brent Cross

  We were so happy to spend two whole days of learning and fun with our friends at Topsy-Turvy, Brent Cross this Holiday and can’t wait to return before the year ends.

  A day at their brick education centre comprises of Fun, Interactive & Stimulating Lego education workshops inside a giant children’s soft play arena that’s been a staple of the community for over 20 years.

  Children are immersed in our Ibrick Lego lessons, led by our expert engineers before having ample time to explore the huge soft play and jungle gym area the venue also has on offer.

  Attendees touch on all areas of the school curriculum lead by trained facilitators, with sessions including the Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEAM) blueprint all whilst tailoring our lessons to match your needs and school requirements.

  Find out more and book your own STEAM Adventure at https://brickeducation.co.uk/

   

  Road Safety week is even closer now Road Safety Week (14 - 20 NOVEMBER 2022)

  Road Safety Week is Brake's biggest annual road safety campaign. Every year, thousands of schools, organisations and communities get involved to shout out for our right to make safe and healthy journeys every day. Getting involved can help your school to meet the HEYL Bronze criteria and to design a HEYL Silver/Gold project on this topic.

  Sign up for resources and challenges at https://www.brake.org.uk/

  This November there will be a chance to see fireworks locally for free Trend Micro Cyber-Academy

  During the half term holidays some of our lucky club members got a chance to visit The Cyber Academy at Trend Micro. The Cyber Academy is exclusively designed for children aged 7-10 years old.

  Each episode at the Cyber Academy targets specific cyber safety topics with key learning objectives. For more information visit https://www.trendmicro.com/internet-safety/for-kids/cyber-academy

  The day will be action packed full of learning, fun, and meeting others.

  On the day, we covered topics such as – passwords, 2 factor authentications, security, kindness online, time online, safety settings, camera safety and healthy habits.

  A snippet of our great day can be seen below:

  10 - 10:30 – Welcome the kids, introduce everyone and have an icebreaker game

  10:30 -11:00 – First episode of their choice

  11:00-11:30 – Tour of the office/ Have some hot chocolate and pastries

  11:30-12:00 – Second episode of their choice

  12:00 – 12:30 – Play an educational game such as Kahoot

  12:30 – 1 Third episode of their choice

  1-1:45 – Lunch Time

  1:45- 2:15 – Fourth episode of their choice

  2:15- 3 - Activity sheet with prizes.

   

  If you’d like a chance for your school to get cyber trained, please let me know and we can liaise with our great friends at TrendMicro for you.

• Finastra's Black History Month Poetry Festival with WCU

  Tue 18 Oct 2022 S Wilson
  

• September-October 2022

  Mon 17 Oct 2022 S Wilson

   

  Finastra's Black History Month Project

  We loved visiting our friends at Finastra last week where we took part n financial education and shared our spoken word work on diversity ,role models and equality. It was an amazing day with some really talented writers.

  Green Week and Community

  Saturday 24th September marked the first day of this year’s Great Big Green Week and we’re getting ready for a number of events across the ward.

  On Tuesday 27th we had professionals from QPCC and Paddington working with Queen’s Park Primary school students, leading a letter writing activity where the young people were asked to detail their hopes for the future Thanks to Millie Kent OF QPCC. On Wednesday 28th there was a community carbon literacy training session at the Beethoven centre as part of the compulsory training for QPCC councillors from 6-8pm.

   Thursday the 29th saw community gardening sessions led in Queen’s Park Gardens by HCGA from 10am-12noon.This was then followed by a free, community lunch from 1-3pm in St Jude’s Hall. At the event students presented their letters in person to the councillors present.

   

  The rejuvenation of currently unused wasteland will provide a green community space for the use of local residents and school. By gating and fencing the space the project will be able to create and safe and manageable green space (100m2) for general community and education use.

   

  The proposed community land is now repurposed thanks to the hard work of reverend David Ackerman, our kind sponsors Axis and the volunteer team from Finastra, having been currently untended and unused it is now a safe and welcoming space. Taking over management of the land and securing its perimeters has helped create and invaluable community resource through the development and maintaining of community partnerships the local residents will have access to safe and managed green space and a program of activities and outreach .In turn, the partnerships and cohesion achieved will generate awareness and understanding of local community, habitats and ecology and foster and promote ecological awareness ;embedding better future practises within the wider community. Thank you all so much.

  By introducing new planting and zones within the land the space will contribute positively to local air quality and general community wellbeing; tending and rejuvenating the space will allow for community and physical activity again creating positive community outcomes while improving local access and spaces.

  October will see the first sessions taking place on the land.

  The space will serve the local community and 3 nursery schools while being a key resource for WCU, encouraging outdoor activity and social and ecological awareness.

  Arts Projects

  We took part in a national art project in February-July '22, The World Re-imagined this year and our globe is now part of a public trail of discovery in central London. This is a great way to get out and about and discover London. https://www.theworldreimagined.org/learning-globes/

   

  We already have a second globe and are looking forward to getting even more WCU schools involved this academic year. October saw the restarting of Arts award in schools with Hallfield School already taking part. This year we hope to visit even more schools and help students begin their Art Award Journey. To celebrate we will be renting out a gallery space and publicly exhibiting students work thanks again to Axis.

  Hermione Wood Wall Hangings Project

  Hermione is working with us again and we are so pleased ,She is Finishing the Hallfield Quilt and will be available to deliver in WCU schools throughout ’22-’23.

   

  We are off on our first Young Ambassadors trail this week and can't wait to share the experience.