One Year On
Video transcript with music sequence over-lay
Child 1, 2 & 3: Appetite for Action
Child 4: Is an environmental project
Child 5: From Global Action Plan
Child 6: And Sky!
Justin Vernon (Year 2 Teacher, The Topsham School, Topsham): The "Appetite for Action" initiative is about involving children in their learning. It’s about making sure that we’re focussing as a school on a very specific area, setting ourselves some action points, seeing where we are and then moving that on with work with the children.
Glen Robinson (Head Teacher, St Mark’s C of E Primary School, Wigan): It’s provided an initiative within school for the staff and the children to really get involved in improving the school environment.
Child 7: It’s a programme for all primary schools
Child 8: In the UK and Ireland!
Catherine Jacob (Environment Correspondent, Sky News): It’s really simple for schools to sign up. They just go to the website, appetite for action dot org dot uk, and click on the challenge that best suits them.
Justin Vernon: Everything was kind of in one place, so there’s resources, there’s the initial ideas. The whole structure of the actual website was, in the whole programme, was good for us because it kind of made us think about where we were, and then to actually involve the children in setting up where they wanted to take it over the term was absolutely brilliant. As a programme, and what’s on the website, they’ve really enjoyed filling out the diary entries to see that step by step process and especially when we were "School of the Week" they were kind of thrilled to see that their pictures were there on the front of the website, but they also found it really, really interesting to have a look through what other schools were doing as well. Such a very different way of thinking about things for the children and the children really took ownership over it, which was absolutely fantastic and I think that’s helped us get to get the results that we’ve got.
Dawn Mellor (Year 3 Teacher, St Mark’s C of E Primary School, Wigan): The children are choosing to do it now through their own lunch times and through their own play times, and they’re actually asking if we can run after school clubs.
Child 9: There are three challenges:
Child 10: Get Growing!
Child 11: Reduce Rubbish!
Child 12: Greener Grub!
Child 13: We’ve been growing strawberries,
Child 14: Potatoes,
Child 15: Tomatoes,
Child 16: Lettuce.
Justin Vernon: "Get Growing", encouraging schools to actually think about what space did they have and how could they actually utilise that to grow more crops and a wider range of products.
Child 17: Everybody should compost.
Child 18: We need to recycle all our paper and cardboard.
Child 19: We mustn’t drop litter.
Justin Vernon: "Reduce Rubbish", um, which was a particular focus on, on reducing how much food waste was actually being generated. The "Greener Grub" initiative, as well, was looking at where their food actually comes from in terms of food miles.
Child 18: I’ve got a lunch box that I can use again, and again, and again.
Child 19: It makes you think what our food comes in.
Child 20: Reduce, re-use, recycle.
Child 21: There are loads of benefits from taking part!
Claire Browne (Head Teacher, The Topsham School, Topsham): It’s really great for the children to see from seed right through to the end product and they’ve got a real understanding of where food comes from now.
Glen Robinson: The things that they learn in class can be used for their own life skills and improve their environment, their world, and tell their parents about how they want to improve their home environment as well.
Dave Kerley (Parent and local business owner): They hate to see anything go to waste. They don’t like anything going in the bin, they like the potato peelings to go out to compost. We’ve got rabbits that, that all the left-over cucumber bits and stuff go to. So, yes, they’re very aware of the food wastage.
Claire Browne: A lot of the heavy manual work has been as a result of parents getting involved.
Glen Robinson: Those adults were doing jobs that the children could not do, so it’s built those bonds and strengthened those bonds, and it’s improving our relationship with the local area.
Claire Browne: In the wider community, the children have taken part in the local Slow Food Market. So the produce that we’ve grown in school, they go along to the market on a Sunday morning and sell their produce.
Catherine Jacob: This is an absolutely crucial year for the environment and for climate change. In the UK, and other countries too, reducing our carbon emissions is going to make a big difference.
Justin Vernon: It’s been really good that the work that we’ve done has actually resulted in the children being given their United Nations Environment Programme Certificates.
Dave Kerley: I run a fish business and I see the fish stocks depleting but on a more global scale so are the veg stocks and everything, so they really need to be made aware of what is going on around them, and the school is doing a fantastic job with that.
Child 22: It’s all about our ideas,
Child 23: And our actions!
Dawn Mellor: They’ve been encouraged more about the healthy eating. They’re really looking forward to the food that they’ve grown going into the kitchen so that the cook can use it.
Dinner Lady: The rhubarb is lovely. It’s really tender.
Child 24: School’s not spending so much money and it’s healthier for us.
Child 19: When you grow your own vegetables it tastes much, much nicer.
Child 13: Fresh and sweeter.
Dawn Mellor: They’re actually asking if they can take some of the plants home. The next project for us is a herb garden so that we’ve got the multi-sensory aspect of the garden. I’d definitely recommend that other schools get involved in "Appetite for Action" because it’s just involved the whole community. It’s not just been a school project.
Claire Browne: It doesn’t matter if you are three or eleven, you can participate in it.
Dave Kerley: The school’s making them very aware of er, of what they’ve got on their doorstep, really.
Child 25: It’s all about, about saving the world.
Child 26: So sign up now,
Child 27: And choose your challenge!