Brightwell School Eco Alliance (BSEA)
The Green Classroom Project
Brightwell School Eco Alliance (BSEA) is a new charity formed specifically to provide the required resources to enable Brightwell Primary School to be both:
- Organisationally sustainable (fit for purpose and with sufficient capacity), and
- Environmentally sustainable (Net zero)
Why are we doing this?
Because our children deserve the best learning environments available, which are both nourishing and sustainable.
What is the background?
Brightwell School became an academy with Wallingford School in 2017, thereby joining the Merchant Taylors’ Oxfordshire Academy Trust. At the time Brightwell School joined the Trust, pupil numbers were low and the school was not performing well.
Thanks to huge amounts of input and guidance from the Trust, Brightwell has transformed into a popular and well achieving school. It is an inclusive school where children thrive, educationally and emotionally.
Since joining the Trust, the school has significantly grown its pupil numbers. The School is now in a position to take in up to 30 children each year, making the school “single form entry”. This has proven to be the most economically and financially sustainable model.
To be able to do this Brightwell School needs 7 classrooms. The school currently only has 6 classrooms,one of which is only temporary and needs replacing.
So what can we do?
For our first project, we are working together with the Trust to provide a state of the art, carbon neutral, ecologically sound classroom, the campaign for which will be called “The Green Classroom Project”
The new block will contain two classrooms with room enough to house children at both key stage one or two.
The design will ensure the classrooms are built to a “net zero” standard. This means using responsibly sourced materials , minimal impact foundations , and other features such as mechanical ventilation heat recovery units, solar panels, air source heat pumps, and/or seeded roofs.
And environmentally sound education doesn’t just stop there. In the future phases of development, we plan to retrofit or “re-green” the existing school buildings, reducing running costs and improving the environment our children spend their school days in .
It also involves embracing environmental issues within the educational curriculum. The school is starting work towards becoming part of the “Eco Schools” community and hope to be awarded their Green Flag soon.
If you have any questions or would like to offer help, please contact us on Brightwellschoolecoalliance@gmail.com
Many thanks
Maddy Lowe, Charlotte Todd and Alistair Higginbottom
Find out more by visiting www.brightwellschoolecoalliance.org
