Breathe Conference
A whole-school, off-timetable day, which aims to build awareness, understanding and appreciation for
our environment at a school and local level. A wide range of activities, workshops, talks and trips will be available throughout the day.
710 Putney High School students attended as well as 35 external students from local schools. Students pre-select what they wish to participate in, giving them ownership over their learning.
Sample Sessions include:
Study in Purple (school magazine) special edition
MUN Conference (workshop/preparation in the morning, debate in afternoon)
Range of specialist talks, including fashion + make-up experts on sustainable design and
cosmetics
Visit to a recycling plant
Litter pick run
Tree planting on Putney Heath
Walking poetry to enhance wellbeing through the environment
Workshop on ‘how to run a successful campaign’
Science experiments to develop our own sustainable products
Art sessions to design logo for recyclable coffee cup
Aims
The Breathe Conference is designed to build awareness, understanding and appreciation for our environment at school and beyond.
The day will focus on developing cultural understanding and empathy towards the issues facing our local environment, country and planet through climate change and wider environmental concerns. Students, staff and guest experts will be brainstorming the challenges of climate change and sustainability to develop greater understanding, empathy and pro-active solutions that could really make a difference.
Background
This is the second whole-school conference Putney High School has run (the innugral was in 2017). We wanted the second to have a greater focus and more attention to be given to being pro-active in the community.
HSBC provided funding or the conference, as well as donated money to gift a tree to each local school that attended.
Resources
All school facilities were used, as well as off-site visits to:
- East Sheen common (volunteering work).
- Lush headquarters in Kingston.
- Barnes Wetland Centre.
- Putney Heath + River Walk (litter picking).
Financial contribution was made by HSBC and was part of a budget requested within Putney last year.
It lasted 1 day.
Impact
The Breathe Conference is integral to our ethos, bringing together our core commitments and
values, including wellbeing, environment, learning beyond the classroom and giving girls a voice.
We will provide our students and visiting students not only with a greater awareness of the issues
facing our environment but more importantly with a feeling of empowerment and motivation to
continue to act beyond the conference and into the future.
We now have over 50 people attending our weekly Eco Club, we are managing and reducing our waste in our canteen, plastic is being reduced (e.g.: fruit pots, and/or only using recyclable and compostible plastics), more people are cycling to work, we have achieved gold status on the 'Travel Plan' and are working towards other awards to demonsate our commitment to helping the environment.
Pupil Involvement
Pupils varied in age from 9-18 years old.
710 Putney High School students + 35 external students from local schools.
Mix of male and female.