Reading School Sustainability Day

Sustainability needs to be a culture that everyone plays a part in, so we made a start with Y7-Y10. Students from Year 7 up to Year 10 attended a 90 minute session on sustainability at Reading School in April. While the students played sustainability bingo, the student sustainability team presented what actions the school was taking to become more sustainable and outline some simple actions all students could take at home and school to increase their own sustainability. This was followed by a sustainability scavenger hunt around the school site, green careers speed dating and a design challenge to increase the sustainability of the school sports kit.

As part of the day, Grenville from the Reading Bike Kitchen came run a lunchtime session on bike maintenance. A couple of students volunteered their bikes to be checked over while Grenville talked them through how to do this and importance of bike maintenance. We are encouraging all our students to bike school, when possible, to reduce the number of cars on the road and therefore our carbon footprint. Alongside the bike maintenance workshop, the estates team have been increasing our provision of covered bike sheds.

Dr Young

Swinley Forest Trip

"The Swinley forest trip was incredible. A mix of creativity, imagination, and adventure. The day encouraged us to think more about the natural world as we explored bugs and plants. The serenity of the forest was overwhelming, with our poems, history, and exploration.  

Our first activity was to create a shelter using only fallen logs and sticks. It was in direct competition with the other team, driving us to be the best. We were all very sad when we moved on, but weren't disappointed with the next activity. A bug hunt. Using professional equipment, we explored the natural world, exploring the depths of bushes and under fallen twigs. We had a checklist to find, and it was extremely hard! There was an ant colony we saw, and it was interesting seeing the ants carry leaves and small sticks. In the end, we completed most of them. 

Next, we went on a little walk around the forest, before stopping at a serene pond to write poetry and our thoughts. The walk was relaxing as we talked about the bike trails and animals we saw on the way. The poetry was fun because we sat in complete silence, listening to the wildlife. Our teacher showed us the tree guards on some baby trees and told us how there was a fire there a few years ago. 

Finally, we went and did tree rubbings with crayons. Our group did rubbings of fallen barbed wire, bark, sticks, and leaves. It looked great! 

When we got to the minibus, we were all very sad we didn’t get to build another den, but had a fun day at Swinley Forest. It was definitely worth the trip and would be happy to go back any time. "

Josh, Year 9

Sustainability at Reading University

"The trip was really interesting and a great way to learn about the different aspects of sustainability. It was also really cool to see the massive grounds of the University, which was a first for me.

Our first activity was carrying out a survey on the biodiversity of two different areas of field, one with longer grass and one with much shorter. Working with a partner, the groups each had to fill in a sheet in two different colours to represent the different areas, noting things like the number of different plants and tallest plant. We also learnt about the different indicator species and their roles in creating a more biodiverse area as a whole. This taught us how we could even carry out our own surveys back at school and at our own homes.

After break, we were given a tour around the University's Atmospheric Observatory, which has been taking regular, uninterrupted measurements for 125 years. We were shown several different devices to measure almost anything you could ever want that relates to the weather or climate, from a sunlight tracker to a thunderstorm predictor to a rain gauge. Each one was built completely differently and measured these things in incredible ways, like how the sunlight tracker burned into a piece of card using the focused light of the sun. We learnt that this observatory, and many others around the country, were essential in understanding the impacts of climate change, and measuring how it impacts us here.

Once we finished lunch, we learnt about air pollution, and at first used technology in the form of small handheld pollution monitors connected via Bluetooth to phones. We compared the pollution of two different areas of the garden we were in and wrote down the level of clean versus dirty air. We then switched to analogue and looked at different types of lichen to find out the pollution, which for me personally was a first. Learning about pollution was a very interesting topic and it was also helpful to hear about the different ways to track levels of pollution.

Finally, we went into the University's new learning garden to hear about renewable energy and trees. I learnt more about trees first, and we were shown a small tree sapling farm, which you can plant 500 trees in! It also has automatic watering system. Then, we went outside of the garden, where it suddenly felt a lot cooler thanks to the trees! The man giving the tour then brought out a piece of equipment which made the plants sing by sending an electrical pulse and then measuring the resistance, and converting that to notes. It can also go through humans, which was very fun. Afterwards, we were shown some statistics about the energy of the UK, which is made up of over 44% renewables! After that, we tried harnessing renewable energy ourselves, using handheld wind turbines and solar panels. Renewable energy will need to be a massive part of the UK's, and the world's, energy consumption, so it was great to learn more about it. Trees will also be very important as they take in CO2 and release O2 back into the atmosphere, reversing climate change.

Overall, the trip was very fun and also very helpful and insightful into ways that we all can do our part against climate change."

Edward, Year 8

Boarding trip to the Ecoskills Learning Centre, Wokingham

 

"The trip today was an amazing experience! We especially enjoyed capturing insects and being able to figure out what species they were using the Dichotomous key. It was cool to be able to work with our friends and find out about the different types of habitats that are accustomed to different types of animals/insects. It was really catching, and the tour guides got us involved throughout the trip. We were constantly being taught new things about the habitat of various birds and insects. Overall, it was a great experience, and we are so grateful that we got the opportunity as boarders to get to go on the trip." 

Zayd and Cassius, Year 9 

Reading Repair Café at Reading School

"In April, members of repair cafes from across Reading came to school to run a repair café for our local community. Repair cafes promote a circular economy by keeping household items in use longer, directly reducing landfill waste and the raw materials needed for new production.  They combat "throwaway culture" by fostering community, teaching repair skills, and combating planned obsolescence, which reduces both waste and carbon emissions from manufacturing. The skills of the repair café members were incredible and lots of happy people left with items back in working order having learnt about the mechanisms behind their items. We hope this will become an annual visit."
Dr Young

Trip to Shinfield St Mary’s Primary School

"On Wednesday 1^st July Geography Club visited Shinfield St Mary’s and we explored all their ecofriendly environments. When we arrived, we were greeted by Mr Knight, the schools Ecology and Sustainability Lead. We were then toured around the school by three year six students. This is how it went…

They had many cool eco features at the school like their own river and a bottle greenhouse. Firstly, we were shown the chicken coop where four chickens lived and laid eggs for the school! Next, we saw not one but two greenhouses, one of which was made of hundreds of plastic bottles! Then they lead us around the boarders of the school taking us through forests, tree tunnels and over bridges. Then they took us out to a locked of area which was also free to the public, this had BMX trails, a pond and lots of shrubs. Conjoined onto this area was an approximately 47,150 m² corn field which they explained to us that they owned half of! Next, they showed us their banana trees which were incubated in a big round semi-sphere, it was really hot in there! One of the coolest things was yet to come though, a river. The river was a shallow stream of water that once it reached the bottom was pumped back up to the top to go again, and again, and again! Finally, it was our chance to help the school out, we were given one piece of untreated wood, we dug a hole and jammed the wood into it before covering the hole over. The result was 12 wooden posts sticking out of the ground, perfect for underground stag beetles to eat their way through the rotting wood!

This was an amazing trip that inspired us for projects of our own (especially the river)! Thanks Shinfield St Mary’s!"

Toby, Year 9

Everyone’s involved! Presenting assemblies to the students

"A group of fellow students, Dr Young, and I hosted a series of assemblies that covered all houses. In these, we discussed many things about the environmental sustainability group, like our ongoing 5 projects, the changes we have already made and the possible futures for these projects, the introduction of the new sustainability showcase of books within the LRC, which included many books on sustainability in many aspects, like business, and the old clothes sale, hosted by fellow students within the group, that managed to reuse old clothing and generate funds for the school. On top of this, we also informed everyone on the small actions they could do to help further our school’s sustainability, like using the sorted bins and turning off classroom lights if you are the last one inside. Altogether, this has progressed student’s ideas and awareness of the sustainability program, as well as given them the means to join if they would like to."

Bhanuteja, Year 11

Reading Bus Youth Panel

"The Reading Bus Youth Panel was very interesting. I went to Leighton Park School for the meeting, where I was greeted by the chief executive of Reading Buses, Robert Williams. There were students in Year 10 and 12 from not only Reading School, but from Leighton Park School and Kendrick School too. We talked about our interesting ideas to help young people who use Reading Buses feel safer and happier along with the sustainability aspect of Reading Buses operating around our schools. We then were served pizza after the meeting, which was pretty cool!"

Rimas, Year 11

New signage in the Refectory

"To reflect the outstanding work of the refectory staff in improving sustainability in the kitchen, we have been working with @designedby.kat to create new signage for the refectory to share their incredible work with our students, staff and visitors. These will be appearing throughout this academic year (2026-27)."

Dr Young

Fighting Throwaway Culture: Clothes Swap a Major Success

Reading School’s Winter Clothes Swap, organised by Abhiram and myself with the support of Dr. Young, has been a great success, raising the grand sum of £471.20. This was also a huge success in uniting students, staff and parents to consider switching to more sustainable practices.

After the Christmas break, students were encouraged to donate good-quality clothes they no longer wore. The response was extremely positive, with a wide range of items being donated to our cause and given the opportunity for a second life, challenging the “throwaway culture” in our community.

On the 4^th February, we held the clothes' sale in Big School during Junior and Senior Lunch, with a strong turnout of students looking to support the event while finding affordable pre-loved clothes. Parents were also invited after school, extending the reach of the initiative beyond the student body.

The funds raised will be directed towards a range of carefully chosen causes:

Contributions will be made to Resettlement, a Reading-based company which supports those in our local community who are displaced. This addresses the Global Sustainability Goals right here on our doorstep.  

Part of the money raised will also go back into sustainability projects at Reading School, allowing students to continue leading initiatives that encourage environmentally-responsible habits.

Unsold clothing has been donated to Bag2School, which sends all clothes to be sorted and supplies second-hand clothing shops and unused clothing is recycled and put back into the textile industry. This approach reinforces a circular economy of textiles, broadening the impact of Reading School’s sustainability programme.

A big thank you to everyone who turned out to support us and thank you to the RSPA, especially Mrs Kirby, for your support during the sale and organising the Bag2School collection.

Written by Maulik, Year 11