Sustainability Champion Finalist  

We are excited to announce that we are one of the top 3 Finalists for the School House Awards 2023 in the sustainability category.  

At RHS our aim is to become carbon neutral by 2030, in line with the Suffolk Climate Emergency Plan. 

What have we achieved in the last 18 months? 

• We have reduced our carbon footprint by carbon offsetting our heating oil and procuring 100% renewable electricity as well as LED light conversion, increasing plant efficiency, improved insulation and behavioural measures such as encouraging energy savings and waste reduction.

• One of our pupils, Georgie, led a campaign that encouraged parents and visitors to turn off their car engines during pick up time.  

• Our Eco Committee has reinvigorated our paper waste recycling programme by modernising our recycling posters. Boxes have also been distributed to each house to collect scrap paper so that it can be repurposed or recycled. 

• We continued our collaboration with Deben Travel, a local travel agency, to plant a significant number of trees around our campus over the next three years.   

• Pupils from the Eco Committee volunteered their time to clear plastic from a woodland in Butley Low Corner near Wickham Market, as part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB working party. 

• We were delighted to welcome back former pupil Simone Rossouw in December 2022 to deliver workshops and a talk to our pupils about sustainability in fashion and the use of micro plastics.  

• In December 2022, many pupils across the school took part in our Recycled Christmas Ornament Competition, run by the Art Department in collaboration with the school's Eco Committee. Pupils had the challenge of creating a Christmas decoration using an element of recycled material. 
   

Other great initiatives  

• To commemorate the COP27 Conference in Egypt, our Model United Nations Society held a debate on the theme of Climate Change. 

• Our Year 7s zoomed into Antarctica to speak with Henry Roberts, an Antarctica Researcher! Based at the Princess Elisabeth Research Centre, Henry talked to our pupils from the first ever zero emission polar research station and challenged them to take responsibility for their environment.  

• Inspired by the theme of last year's National Poetry Day and the collaboration with Greenpeace, the English Department held a poetry competition titled 'Poems for the Planet'. 

• Years 7, 8 and 9 completed a wonderful job in our Community Garden last summer, as part of their Service module for the RHS Compass programme. 

• An ongoing strategy to recycle school uniforms allows us to offer donations to be submitted and resold through our school shop online. 

• Our Marketing Department has reintroduced our seed packet promotional gift and switched from laminated prospectus bags to reusable 100% organic fairtrade cotton bags. 

 

Our future plans? 

• We are studying methods of replacing oil with a renewable energy solution for heating and hot water, and whilst this is intrinsically linked to the solar project, we are actively developing plans.