Eco Blog
We have teamed up with Bags 2 School again this year and arranged two collections for this academic year: Tuesday 7th November 2023 and Friday 19th April 2024. Recycle unwanted clothing and raise funds for the school.
Saturday 20th May - Gardening Day - 10.00am - 4.00pm - are you available to lend a hand?
The aim once again is to ensure that we are fully realising the potential that our outside space has to offer our children. This is both as a learning space and a recreational area during break times and lunch times. Our ideas for the day are:
1. Cutting back and clearing of the meadow area in order to turn over the soil and replant wildflower seeds. This will help create a habitat for bees and other wildlife.
2. Remove rotten planters and debris from the old growing area behind Reception.
3. Cutting back and removal of nettles, brambles, etc from various sites around the grounds.
4. Pruning of hazel trees and willow bench to provide a supply of sticks for outdoor learning lessons.
5. Clearing of a new outdoor classroom site behind the current Year 2 classrooms
Monday 24th April 2023 - Bags 2 School Collection - Thank you for all your donations.
Wednesday 15th March 2023 - today we have sent off 15kg of pens to Terracycle to be recycled. We nearly have another box ready to go too! Keep recycling!
Monday 27th February 2023 - Friends of Hillcroft are hosting a World Book Day Costume Sway in the school foyer this week.
Monday 20th February 2023 - Reuse, Reduce and Recycle! At Hillcroft we recycle paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, pens, empty crisp packets, food waste and batteries. We also recycle clothes with Bags 2 School collections and encourage reuse by selling secong hand uniform. We actively encourage reduce - switch off when you are not in the room and reduce the electricity used. Only print if necessary helping to reduce paper and printing costs.Every little helps.
Wednesday 9th November 2022 - Bags 2 School Collection. Thank you for all your donations - the bags were collected today.
We have teamed up with Bags 2 School again this year and booked in two collections: Wednesday 9th November and Monday 24th April. More information will be sent home nearer the time, but please start collecting clothes to recycle.
Wednesday 18th May 2022 - today we have packed up 15kg of pens to be recycled and arranged a collection for the batteries we have collected.
Did you know that once a battery ends up in a landfill rubbish site, it can take a hundred years to break down and disappear! Batteries also contain harmful chemicals that can be released when they start to rot. These can leak into the soil and water. Help keep batteries out of landfill and recycle them today! Help save our planet!
Saturday 14th May 2022 - Volunteer Outdoor Environment Day - we are so very grateful to all the volunteers who came and helped tidy up the outdoor learning environment. They all worked extremely hard, cutting back many outdoor areas which had become quite overgrown. Before and after photos of the day can be seen here.
Thursday 12th May 2022 - we are still collecting crisp packets in the dining hall and today we recycled a large bin liner full. These were delivered to our local Co-op who will send them off to be recycled.
Thursday 10th February 2022- The Crisp Packet Recycling scheme at school is being discontinued. Since the scheme started in 2018 the recycling landscape has changed and today there are more than 3500 collection points at local supermarkets that accept crisp packets for recycling along with other types of flexible plastic. In light of this progress, and after careful consideration, the Crisp Packet Recycling Scheme will close in April.
Please continue to recycle your crisp packets, you can take them to your nearest supermarket with a flexible plastic collection point. Those closest to the school are the Co-op and Tescos - you can find other collection points on the Walkers website's recycling page at www.walkers.co.uk/recycle
Friday 21st January 2022 - today another 15kg of used pens were collected for recycling. The pens are sent to Terracycle where they are broken down into their different components and recycled.
Saturday 27th November 2021 - unfortunately wa have had to postpone our volunteer day due to the bad weather
Thursday 4th November 2021 - Parents meeting to discuss plans to maintain the outdoor areas. Saturday 27th November we will host a gardening day for volunteers.
We have been awarded our Eco-Schools Green Flag Award! We are very proud of all the hard work each Eco-Committee over the past four years have put in to achieve this goal and for the enthusiastic participation of the whole school community! Lets keep it up!
Thursday 1st July 2021 - our Eco Council took part in a workshop with Green Education making notebooks, seed bombs and eco-fish from recycled materials.
Monday 19th April 2021 - after lots of initial activity and an early egg, our birdbox has gone very quiet!
Wednesday 10th March 2021 -our bird box live stream is up and running for the 2021 season. To watch the live stream go to www.seenature.org.uk - click on live stream - then look for the Hillcroft school logo. If there is a green dot on our logo it means the stream is live. We hope we have visitors to our box soon.
Tuesday 23rd February 2021 - Today we recycled 15kg of used pens. The pens are sent to Terracycle where they are broken down to their different components and recycled, giving them a second life and keeping them out of landfill.
Friday 11th February 2021 - the crisp packets we have collected this half term have been collected by a local resident who is recycling them to raise funds for the air ambulance.
Monday 8th February 2021 - we have renewed our subscription to www.seenature,org.uk and will hopefully have our birdbox online soon.
Friday 16th October 2020 - School Council/Eco Committee Meeting. Our meeting took place in the outside shelter, practicing social distancing. We introduced the new committee, explained its purpose and discussed our eco-journey so far. Each committee member took and environmental review form to complete with their class and teacher. These will be collated to give a whole school overview and used to prepare our action plan for the coming school year.
Tuesday 14th July 2020 - today we had another full barrel of batteries collected - keep up the good work!
Monday 1st June 2020 - today is the start of The Wildlife Trusts 30 Days Wild. You can sign up to the Wildlife Trust to receive a free downloadable pack, alternatively we have added many resourses to the Home Learning page for each Year Group, including a wallchart to record your daily wild activity. Have fun - try to do one wild act per day during the month of June. This can be as simple as eating or exercising outside, to building a bug hotel, planting, bug hunting or going for a walk. Enjoy being outside.
Tuesday 19th May 2020 - we were very pleased to welcome SOLD Outdoors to school to share outdoor learning activities with the children of keyworkers that were in school this week. They had great fun!
Monday 11th May 2020- Terracycle are still accepting recycling deliveries, so today we boxed up all the empty crisp packets and 15kg of used pens and arranged a collection.
Wednesday 6th May 2020- very sad news - unfortunately all the chicks died. There appeared to only be one parent blue tit attending the nest, feeding the chicks. Its unusual for the whole nest to perish, but its very hard for one parent to keep up the feeding regime as the chicks need so much food to thrive. You can still watch the progress of chicks in nest boxes in the other schools at www.seenature.org.uk
Sunday 3rd May 2020 - the eggs have started to hatch. Eventually all but one hatched.
Thursday 30th April 2020 - we have counted 10 eggs in the nest.
Wednesday 8th April 2020 - we have our first egg in the nest!
Saturday 28th March 2020- watching the blue tit bring in nesting material. Look in the gallery for current photos of the birdbox.
Thursday 26th March 2020- a blue tit is roosting in the box over night!
Monday 23rd March 2020 - activity has been spotted in our birdbox! To view the birdbox visit www.seenature.org.uk, click on live stream, then the Hillcroft logo. If there is a green dot on the logo the stream is live.
Friday 20th March 2020 - school closure following government advice. School will remain open with a very small staff to care for the children of keyworkers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Friday 13th March 2020 - celebrating science week. All children bought a recycled pot to school which they used to plant a sunflower. The sunflower seeds we used were harvested from our own sunflowers at the end of last year. Re-cycling and learning about the life cycle of a sunflower.
Monday 9th March 2020 - Larch Class have planted their potatoes today. We have received potatoes from www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk - Year 5 are growing the potatoes to enrich the topic Allotment that they will be doing in the Summer Term. Acorns will also be planting potatoes - it will be interesting to see who has the largest crop.
Friday 6th March 2020 - have you checked on the Hillcroft Birdbox this year? Visit www.seenature.org.uk , click on live stream then the Hillcroft Logo. If there is a green dot on the logo the stream is live. We havent spotted any activity yet this year - the nest you can see is left over from last year.
Wednesday 4th March 2020 - As part of a commitment to reduce food waste, Tesco have partnered with FareShare by ensuring surplas food within its supply chain is redistributed to charities and community groups across the country. We are pleased to be able to partner with FareShare to distribute on behalf of our local Tesco. To begin with we will collect unsold fruit, vegetables and bakery items that no longer have any commercial value but are still perfectly fit for human consumption, twice a week. The food will most likely have reached its best before date. As this is a new scheme for us, we don't know what quantity of food will be available, we expect it will vary from week to week.
Thursday 13th February 2020 - The Writing Instrument Recycling Scheme is running again and today we sent off 15kg of used pens! Thank you to everyone that has helped by recycling their pens with us - we are just weighing a second box to send off. Keep u p the good work!
Friday 24th January 2020 - Mrs Swain held an Eco Assembly introduced the School Council and explained their role, highlighted the topics we are focusing on this year and launched a poster competition.
Wednesday 22nd January 2020 - School Council / Eco Committee Meeting. Mrs Swain is now leading the School Council - discussed what they have acheived so far and made plans for the rest of the term. Created a rota for litter picking the school grounds and a rota to empty the fruit recycling bins. Discussed having a poster competition to highlight the topics we are focusing on this year.
Tuesday 17th December 2019 - re recycled our redundant IT equipment with PRM Green Technologies.
Wednesday 13th November - School Council / Eco Committe Meeting to launch Big Christmas Jumper Swap - children can donate their old/unwanted Christmas Jumpers, please hand them in to the school office. We will hold a jumper sale on 27th November where these will be sold for £1.00, giving the children the chance to buy a preloved Christmas Jumper - encouraging recycling and repurposing clothing.
Wednesday 13th November - Bag 2 School Collection. Thank you for all the bags donated, they were collected this morning.
Tuesday 5th November - Gardening Club have planted a new sensory flower bed in the EYFS playground. They are looking forward to watching it grow and seeing the bulbs come up.
Monday 4th November - We have recieved notification from Terracycle that the Writing Instrument Recycling Scheme has been so popular they have received over double the amount of writing instruments to be recycled compared to last year! This is great news for the environment but because of the increase in volume they are having to make improvements to their programme. Consequently the scheme has been suspended until January. We will continue collecting pens and store them ready to send for recycling in the New Year.
Thursday 11th October - Thank you to Limpsfield Grange School for collecting crisp packets - together we have just sent off another big box for recycling.
Tuesday 1st October - Gardening Club collected the seeds from the heads of their sunflowers to dry and store for next Spring, ready to sow. They have also started clearing the raised beds ready to plant winter seeds.
Thursday 12th September - Today we recycled 15kg of used pens. The pens are sent to Terracycle where they are broken down to their different components and recycled, giving them a second life and keeping them out of landfill.
Monday 2nd September - Battery Collection - our fourth drum of batteries has been collected! Please keep up the good work and recycle your batteries with us.
Monday 17th June - taking advantage of the sunshine, members of the gardening club harvested the potatoes they had grown in bags. This year we did an experiment growing two bags outside and two bags in 'the pod'. The plants that were grown outside produced more potatoes. We wonder if this is because tey received more water as it has been so wet recently?They were also excited to see how well the strawberry patch was growing and picked the first ripe strawberries.
Tuesday 4th June - Big Battery Hunt collection - our third drum of batteries has been collected! Thank you for recycling your batteries with us.
Monday 3rd June - Crisp Packet Recycling Scheme launched.
Thursday 23rd May - School Council Assembly to launch crisp packet recycling. We have signed up with Terracycle for the crisp packet recycling scheme. To begin with we will be recycling the crisp packets from childrens packed lunches - there is a recycling bin in the dining hall.
Monday 9th May - Big Battery Hunt collection - our first drum of batteries has been collected! Thank you for recycling your batteries with us.
Did you know that once a battery ends up in a landfill rubbish site, it can take a hundred years to break down and disappear! Batteries also contain harmful chemicals that can be released when they start to rot. These can leak into the soil and water. Help keep batteries out of landfill and recycle them today! Help save our planet!
Thursday 9th May - School Council Meeting. We recapped on everything we have achieved so far this year reminding ourselves of all the recycling initiatives we have implemented. Discussed signing up to the crisp packet recycling scheme. The School Council are designing posters to promote the scheme which will be launched after half term. Also discussed having an Eco Day in June.
Tuesday 30th April - The Big Battery Hunt collection bin has arrived. We have collected enough batteries so far that we have filled the bin already and we have arranged our first collection! Thank you! Keep collecting!
Friday 26th April - the Hillcroft Bird Box live stream is back up and running. Over the Easter break a nest has appeared in the bird box. Log on to www.seenature.org.uk then click on live stream and find the Hillcroft logo. If there is a green dot on the logo it is streaming live. Click on the Hillcroft logo to see live footage of our bird box.
Thursday 25th April - Bag 2 School collection at 9.15am.
Wednesday 20th March - the Big Battery Hunt boxes have arrived and will be sent home with children today. Please recycle your used batteries via Hillcroft.
Tuesday 19th March 2019 - our Litter Angels from Year 3 did a community litter pick with Mrs Vicars.
Friday 15th March 2019 - Climate Change Assembly and Poster Competition Launched. Today young people around the world are standing together demanding action on climate change. In school, we had an assembly to raise awareness of climate change, explaining global warming and understanding how we can all do our bit to help prevent climate change. The children were invited to design a poster to show the impact of Climate Change.
Monday 11th March 2019 our Litter Angels from Year 4 kick started the Great Big School Clean with our first community Litter Pick today.
Friday 8th March 2019 - Year 2 had a delivery of caterpillars today to compliment their topic, Wriggle and Crawl. It will be an unforgettable opportunity to watch caterpillars change into chrysalides and then emerge as beautiful Painted Lady Butterflies to release into the wild! The entire transformation from caterpillar to adult butterfly takes about three to five weeks......we will keep you updated to their progress.
Wednesday 6th March 2019 - School Council / Eco Committee Meeting - we updated our Action Plan. We have set dates to start our litter picking, signed up to the Great Big School Clean, and signed up to the Big Battery Hunt to recycle batteries.
Tuesday 5th March 2019 - Planting Day! Gardening club have planted two of their potato kits. They are taking part in the GYOP Competition so have planted the potatoes in the bags provided. As an experiment to see which grow the best, one kit is being grown outside in the courtyard and the other kit will be bought on in the pod. I wonder which will produce the most potatoes?
Tuesday 5th March 2019 - Year 6 are creating powerful powerpoint presentations on Climate Change - check out the Year 6 page to see examples of their work (coming soon)
Tuesday 26th February 2019 - Hillcroft Gardening Club have signed up to take part in Grow Your Own Potatoes 2019. They have started chitting their popatoes ready to plant on 5th March.
