events and fayres

embed sustainability in events - have an action plan

‘SUSTAINABILITY’ stalls

  • Sell good quality, good condition, second-hand clothing items (jackets, dresses, jumpers, boots etc), toys, games and books to raise funds.

  • Lend relevant outdoor/craft activity books, picture and chapter books and non-fiction adult books on green parenting, nature, conservation, the climate crisis and so on.

  • Involve the pupil eco committee in helping with the stall - they could promote the eco committee’s achievements and raise awareness about their activities (donate them some home baking to entice people over to their stall).

  • Give out seeds/pots to the kids.

  • Give out leaflets - e.g. Home Energy Scotland, Triodos ethical banking, renewable energy provider e.g. Octopus, Good Energy, or Ecotricity, NatureSave home insurance, Eco Talk mobile phone provider.

gifts

P7 Leavers

Something useful for high school - a calculator or books.

Consider printing your P7 Leavers hoodies with KoolSkools, who use fairly-traded, organic cotton and recycled polyester.

teachers

Trees for Life, the charity that is working to rewild the Scottish Highlands, offers ‘Plant a Tree’ gift certificates, which you can personalise. I think this makes a great gift for a teacher and it can be displayed in the classroom to raise awareness too. The certificates costs £13.99 and trees are £6 each. It would be a great joint present from a few pupils. You can also start a ‘grove’ for your school for £30, which you add trees to over the years. Alternatively, as a class you could adopt an endangered animal to give to your teacher.

Sustainable celebrations

World Book Day

Children, parents and carers, teachers and the local community can donate books they no longer read so that each child on World Book Day can choose a book to take home with them.

Easter

If you’re looking for a sustainable option for Easter chocolate, please consider Forest of Hope eggs - https://forestofhope.com, which are palm oil-free, plastic-free, fairtrade and educational (and 83p per child).

Christmas Gifts

For each child at school, perhaps a Forest of Hope chocolate surprise (palm oil free, plastic-free, fair trade and educational) at 83p per child or an I-spy nature book at £1.90 per child (this price includes a schools discount). Or a second-hand book sourced from donations from parents, a local charity shop, the local library, Better World Books or the World of Books.

Across the wider school community, promote giving the gift of time and homemade or second-hand gifts this Christmas by circulating the Sustainable Christmas Gifts Guide - ‘how-to-do’ sustainable gifts to parents and staff.

Ask the Head Teacher to circulate this leaflet to classroom teachers to reduce Christmas card waste. Instead of buying individuals cards and envelopes for their friends, children can bring in old Christmas cards and cut shapes out them (stars, hearts, Christmas trees) and give these as their cards. They can then be turned into bunting at home. See here for what this looks like, and for other low-impact gift and decoration ideas.

You can also set up a Facebook group for school/nursery parents and run an online sale of second-hand toys, games, clothes and books (proceeds could go to charity or to the nursery/school).

Christmas Jumpers/ panto costumes

‘Christmasize’ jumpers you already have [see below] or swap/borrow Christmas jumpers with class mates (via your class Facebook/WhatsApp group) or the above-mentioned Facebook group. The latter can also be used to borrow/lend items of clothing for Panto costumes. Consider a Christmas jumper ‘amnesty’ in January, where parents can hand in unwanted jumpers for use in school next Christmas (charity shops won’t take them; many are simply binned).

Christmas crafts

At nursery/school and at home, avoid plastic and use natural or scrap materials only – some great ideas here.