Eco-councillors
Welcome to Oak Cottage Primary Schools Eco page!
Eco-Schools is an international award programme that guides schools and pupils on their sustainable journey, providing a simple framework to help make sustainability an integral part of school life. Eco-Schools can help enhance the curriculum and get the whole school united behind something important.
Our mission is to help make our school sustainable and to bring about behaviour change in our pupils and those connected to them so that good habits learned in our school are followed through into homes and communities.
Every fortnight our eco councillors meet to discuss the ways in which we can improve our school. The children take part in litter picking, energy saving programmes and will often lead assemblies and run competitions. Our projects always involve the whole school and wider community. We are extremely proud to have been awarded the ‘Green Flag Status’ and the Greeener Schools Award. In addition Let's Go Zero have audited our carbon consumption and think we are the best school they have visited! Our hard work and dedication means that our school continues to recycle, reduce and reuse.
Our elected Eco Councillors for this year are:
Alfie Fatima
Katelyn Violet
James Liyana
Inarah Raam
Thomas Sienna
Sophia Will
Timetable of events over the school year
Let's Go Carbon Zero by 2030
Our school is one of the first in the country to have their action plan to be carbon neutral by 2030 ready. Representatives form Let's Go Zero, came to visit us in June 2024 and created the above report of their findings. We have an action plan in place to continue to reduce the carbon we use as a school.
Please follow this link to see an article abut us on Solihull Councills website.
Plastics Mark
We have achieved the plastics mark! To do this we had five objectives to meet, which included trying to irradicate single use plastics, writing to MPS and companies to ask them to rethink their use of single use plastics. We have had responses from both and we have an MP visiting school on the 4th July!
Visit by Saqib Bhatti MBE, MP for Meriden and Solihull East
Saqib Bhatti MBE, MP for Meriden and Solihull East visited school on the 4th July, after the eco committee wrote a letter to him asking for his opinions on the use of single use plastics and what he feels the local government are doing to provide a solution to the issue. He replied to our letters, offering to visit our school, so we accepted. The eco committee gave him a tour of our eco initiatives.
He was then interviewed and asked all sorts of environmental questions by the team, who were very impressive in their knowledge and their ability to ask hard hitting questions! Saqib Bhatti then delivered an assembly to the whole school explaining his job role and offered us the opportunity to visit the Houses of Parliament!
Please see the article that has been written on Solihull Updates. (It should say years 1-6!)
NPower grant application
We have applied for a grant to NPower to develop our environmental area. Here is our video with our vision, presented by our eco team. Keep your fingers crossed!
Information on events throughout
the year
Big School's Bird Watch
We are taking place in the Big School's Bird Watch. Please download and complete the forms.
Hand these to Mrs Newman!
Following this the eco-councilors will install bird feeders around the school groups to help encourage a range of birds. They will then use the bird spotting sheet to discover which birds like to visit our school.
If you would like a bird spotting sheet to complete this activity at home please ask Mrs Newman.
Counting birds
WeCan Solihull
Ryan from the charity We can came to conduct an assembly to promote the charity he started 3 years ago. He is a local 12-year-old boy who would like to encourage more children to be ambassadors for his charity alongside him.
School is currently collecting cans and sweet tubs for him to recycle. All the money raised from the recycling incentives, are being donated to local food charities and food banks in the local area.
Many of the children are keen to become Child ambassadors for We can. If you would like more information on how your child can be involved please use the below communication details. In addition, send as many empty cans into school so that we can recycle them. They can be out into the blue bin at the top of the schools drive way.
Email is wecaninsolihull@gmail.com
Phone number is 07469193711
Facebook page link https://www.facebook.com/groups/631191735473943
Switch off Fortnight!
Switch off Fortnight. This will be taking place between the-11th-25th November.
Our eco team will be monitoring our whole school’s usage of all electrical appliances within school. They will be launching the initiative in an assembly with Mrs Newman and we hope that our school meter readings will show a decrease in usage over this time. The top three classes will receive certificates.
During this time, I hope your child will become an eco-warrior at home and your home usage decreases too!
Below are links to games and competitions that are part of this initiative.
Switch off at home tips
Here is a game you can play at home with your family.
Litter Picking!
We have litter pickers at school. If you would like to borrow this wonderful tool, please ask Mrs Newman and she will lend one to you so that you can do your bit to help the environment. Both Maddie and Romaya borrowed them
and helped to clean up the local area.
Residents across Solihull take great pride in where they live and are very active in helping to keep their local areas litter-free.
On the link below you can find more information about how to register and receive free litter picking equipment to start your volunteer journey.
Whether you want to get active in the community or do your bit at home,
Love Solihull are here to help!Your equipment can be collected from 
your local library that you pick when registering with Love Solihull. You will be given a roll of green Love Solihull bags to use for collecting your litter. You can collect a new roll of bags whenever is required from your chosen library hub. It is important that you ONLY use the green Love Solihull bags for litter picking.
They will also collect the litter you collect!
Polytunnel
We are still up and running in the polytunnel! If you have any spare seeds/bulbs at home please send them to Mrs Newman!
Walk to school week
We will be taking part in this during October and May.
Cut Your Carbon - November
Cut Your Carbon
How you can help at home
Just in case you have lost your 6 step cut the carbon challenge, here is one you can print off.
Stopping Food waste
We are trying to reduce the food waste we create at school and wondered if you would like to as well! Below is the link to a fantastic free cook book that has recipes to stop food wastage at home. From left over vegetables and meat to uneaten cooked breakfast! If you do cook anything from the book, please share your culinary wonders with school, so we can all be inspired!
Cook book - second edition
Bird watching donations!
If you have any spare bird feeders / tables at home and would like to donate these to the school please pop these into Mrs Newman. We also need seeds and fat balls (no nuts). This will help us to attract all the birds for the Big Schools Bird Watch.
Ecosia
Our school is now using Ecosia as our serach engine. You can also switch your search engine to Ecosia at home.
It’s fast, it’s easy and it’s a lot more private than Google.
With just a few clicks, you make a difference, today and every single day from now on.
45 searches plants a tree
Ecosia is a not-for-profit B corp. They use the incredible profits that are generated by search to plant trees. If Ecosia were as big as Google, it could absorb 15% of all global CO2 emissions!
THAT'S ENOUGH TO OFFSET ALL VEHICLE EMISSIONS WORLDWIDE.
Seven reasons to give this free alternative a try
Plant trees by doing nothing special.
Do something that matters, right now and every day.
Protect endangered animal habitats and give lemurs somewhere to live.
Support an ethical internet and walk away from big tech.
You can see how many trees you’ve planted.
Finally, you can do something today, right now, that you feel good about.
Greener Solihull Schools Award
On the 11th November 2024, Mrs Newman and members of the eco team were invited to Solihull council chambers to be presented with our level 1 2 and 3 Greener Solihull Schools Award. The Mayor of Solihull, Shahin Ashraf MBE, presented us with the award.
Recycling - THE Big Battery Hunt!
Our school, with the help of the eco team, are participating in the Duracell battery 'Big Battery Hunt'. We need your help! We want to be the school that collects the most batteries!
Please send in any batteries for recycling at school. We have a large battery container to keep them safe in until we recycle them. Remember to get your child to give them to staff rather than them sit in their book bags.
Please only send in AAA AA C or D batteries, we can not recycle any other types. We are sure that there will be many batteries that will need recycling, so please bring them in.
A-Z of Recycling Competition
Celebrate Global Recycling Day and see your designs brought to life as a large classroom poster! Pupils are encouraged to inspire recycling with an A-Z of ideas showcasing how their community can take action to help the planet. Fill in the ready-to-go template and enter the ideas to win:
- Your designs turned into an A2 poster to display on a classroom wall
- A set of A4-sized posters to share your designs with your friends and family
- A personal tablet worth £200
- A selection of Duracell goodies, including the infamous Duracell bunny!
Download your template and get started today. Send your entries via
Email to bigbatteryhunt@nationalschoolspartnership.com
Post to We Are Futures, Big Battery Hunt Competition, 1 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND.
Entries must reach us by Wednesday, 21st May 2025.
The template has been sent home but of you have lost it, it is below for you to dwomload.
The competition entry form
Recycling - We are recycling crisp packets. Look out on the back of your crisp packets for the recycle symbol and it saying recycle at store.
Recycle To Read
Please have a good clear out at home and send as many textiles in as you can. The eco team have designed posters for all around school to encourage your collecting skills!
Our eco code
Global goals
We are making sure our practises as an eco team and our schools' curriculum encompasses the 17 Global Goals wherever possible. We are confident that we deliver all of the global goals in via our school curriculum, eco initiatives, school visitors and our fabulous eco team! Ask one of the school eco, team for more information - they will happily tell you!
