Evidence portfolio.

Monitoring sheets
Each class has been given a monitoring sheet to record their participation to help improve out school environment. Every day when they complete a task, for example turning off all the lights whenever someone leaves the room, they can colour in a section of the chart.
The teacher then hands these back to me and my colleague each week and we tot up the scores to see how the school as a whole is doing. To encourage these to be kept up to date, there will be a prize for the class which colours in the most sections of their chart, over the three months we will partaking. 



Pot plants
As part of our way to encourage children to think more carefully about their immediate environment we have purchased a pot plant for each class. These are to be watered by monitors within the class.
Some classes have further developed this by the class teacher bringing in additional plants or ones being grown from a bulb therefore incorporating some educational understanding.
During the summer term we will be asking classes to pot their plants and have them on display outside their classrooms.



Tidy Cloakrooms and classrooms
We feel that this is a very important issue within the school and is something that we have monitored before, with good success. However it was noticed that once the monitoring of this ceased some children again reverted back to leaving coats and bags on the floor which both looked unsightly and could cause an injury. We are now also incorporating the idea of tidy classrooms in order to make the cleaning staffs job easier and the classroom a more enjoyable environment to be in.
All children have been trying hard with these elements and classrooms are generally looking much clearer.

Recycle paper and card
Since the second half of the spring term each class has been provided with an orange bag, from the local council, for the recycling of paper, card, plastic drinks bottles, newspaper, cardboard and catalogues. This are collected, when nearly full, by the cleaners and placed into a large school bin which is collected fortnightly.
Although the children are still getting used to this system, they are now making conscious efforts to both remember to use them and place the appropriate waste into them.




Thermometers in class
We have now ensured that all classrooms have thermometers in them to measure their daily temperature. This is to ensure that rooms are not becoming too warm through the excess use of the heating in the colder months.
I know within year four that this is the responsibility of monitors, again incorporating educational value.

Animal adoption
This is something that will be
ongoing as we are currently waiting for information from local animal rescue centers.

Recycle printer cartridges
A recycling bin has now been placed in one of the year four classrooms where children can bring their class or home used printer cartridges. The ICT coordinator has recently sent off for some cartridge bags from Tesco for each cartridge sent off the school receives 10 computers for schools vouchers.




Litter patrol
This has now been reestablished after the winter months by school council. Two children within the school are responsible for collecting litter around the school that has accumulated over the week. This responsibility will rise through the year groups on a weekly basis. Class teachers will be told when it is their classes turn through the memo board in the staffroom.

Bird feeder and houses
A bird feeder has now been purchased for the school and placed on a tree on the school field. It will be the responsibility of the school council to ensure that this is maintained and hopefully will encourage new and interesting species to our school for the children to view.
The children were also encouraged at our recent craft day to make and decorate bird houses as presents for mother’s day.



Friendship bench
A sign has now been made and stuck on a bench on the playground. On attending a school council meeting it was decided that it would become one of their new duties to be responsible for ensuing that this idea is a success. The head will announce in assembly the purpose of this and how it will work. Children who are finding it difficult to find or have no one to play with are to go and sit on the bench and a school council member will join them for a chat or to try and incorporate them into a groups activities.



Sensory garden
Beds for the sensory garden have been in place for sometime. However money has not been available to carry out any planting. Luckily, however, a small amount of money has now been raised and we will be able to go and buy plants, bulbs and seeds to start planting. In the near future we are aiming to set up a lunch time gardening club and it will be these children’s, and leading adults, responsibility to ensure that to garden is fully tended for.
Money will hopefully continue to be raised to make this a blooming success.




Turn off lights
To ensure all lights are turned off whenever a class leaves a room, classes have designated light monitors. It is up to these children to be last to leave the room to ensure that all the lights are turned off. Most classrooms also have movement sensors. If they sense no-one is in the room it will turn the lights off automatically.

Put up chairs
This again is a job designated to children in the classroom to be responsible for. We feel this in an important issue for the school for a number of reasons; first for the simple reason that it makes the classroom look neater at the end of the day. If a child feels proud of their classroom environment, they will feel safe and comfortable and will look after it. Also for the second reason it makes the classroom easier to clean. If the chairs are put up at then end of the day then the floor can be easier clean, thus saving electricity, time, money and making the classroom a nicer place to be.


No dripping taps
Children from each class are allocated, to ensure that taps in the classroom, and school are not left dripping. They also check to make sure water is not being wasted.

Walk/cycle to school
During the register each morning children are asked to raise their hands whether or not they walked or cycled to school etc. If over half the children have, then a section of the chart can be coloured in.

Environment mentioned in lessons or general conversation
We try to encourage environmental issues to be discussed throughout the curriculum, or during circle time. This is so children can see the impact it has on all aspects of our life, and to keep it in the fore front of their minds., if ever an environmental issues is mentioned, the chart can be coloured in. this is proving to be very beneficial, with children now bringing up more environmental then ever. Things they have seen during their walk to school, or even issues on the news. These discussions are happening without teacher input, and it is giving the children a feel of responsibility for the area around then, as well as bigger national or global issues.

Keep windows shut and doors closed
During these cold months it is very tempting to turn up the radiators onto full to warm the classroom up. However this often gets to warm and on many occasions it was noticed that windows were opened to cool the classroom down, even the heating was still on. This is waste of energy and money. Therefore this is why decided to use this as one of our 20 points, to ensure this is not a regular occurrence in our school.

Big classroom tidy
At the end of each half term each class will have a big tidy of their classroom. This is to ensure the classrooms stay uncluttered and organised. Cloakrooms will be properly tidied, having a tidy and organised classroom is important for children’s learning, and it also teaches them to be responsible for their own area.


Clean and healthy schools day
On this day dedicated to promoting a clean and healthy school there will be many activities. The children will be asked to bring in a healthy pack lunch, which uses minimum packaging to reduce on waste. We will also ask local supermarkets and business to donate fruit, so children in key stage 2 can have fruit at playtime as well as key stage 1. All children will also be taught a simple exercise routine which they can carry out at home and maybe tea
Teach an exercise routine.

Healthy living magician
This was part of a whole school assembly where an outside agency can in to perform magical tricks whilst educating the children about the importance of healthy living.

Healthy eating play
This was a play performed by an outside agency to promote the importance of healthy eating.