This is a cross-curricular themed lesson incorporating geography, maths, science, D.T. and ICT skills with developing the child’s thinking, using strategies such as De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, and Personal, Learning Thinking Skills (PLTS), under the umbrella theme of ‘Our Planet’.
Years 5, 7 and 8 have a one hour lesson each week.

The children learn about what global warming is and how it is affecting our planet. They will investigate their carbon footprints and work out ways to reduce this. They will look at sustainability issues and explore our sustainable garden created over the last two years. They will continue work that has already started in the garden and will be planting from seeds and learning about the life cycle of plant as they do this.

Other areas that they will focus on are:

• Waste; looking at the issues surrounding our ‘throwaway society’ and the R’s – recycling, reducing, reusing, rethinking, and refusing.
• Energy Efficiency: the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy, the pros and cons of each and looking at the energy used in school, Solar and Wind powered objects.
• A guide to gardening book, which will be a theme running throughout the year aimed to be used by next year’s Year 8. They will also be constructing a greenhouse made from 2 litre drinks bottles. They will look at the collection and conservation of water in the garden and create systems to transport water effectively and efficiently around the garden.
• Food miles; locally sourced foods and the impact the travelling has on the environment.

Please see the overview for the year of Creative Thinking topics

The children will also be encouraged to participate regularly on the www.generationgreen.org website in order to collect green points for the school’s green leaf total, which in turn allows us to be awarded with ‘green’ prizes.

Where possible the children work with Creative Practitioners such as Expert Gardeners; who helped the children create our Eco Garden area, Eco Product Designers; who worked with Year 8’s top produce sustainable packaging ideas for products such as Wii’s and more recently a Design Engineer; who will work with the Creative Council members on a project to build a Wind Turbine to power lights in the garden area.