Leighton Park School, Reading, is delighted to be awarded joint winners of the Green Senior School Award 2023 by Citykids magazine!
Sustainability is one of Leighton Park’s core Quaker values. The importance of environment is reflected in the curriculum, and particularly emphasised in the interdisciplinary, cross-curricular projects, and expansive co-curricular programme.
According to Melanie Sanderson, competition judge and The Good Schools Guide Managing Editor, the award celebrates Leighton Park for delivering “An extremely impressive firm commitment to change-making at a high level.”
Sustainability Co-ordinator and Head of Geography, Oliver Staines, commented: “Working in this school and environment, it is such a special privilege to witness and be involved in helping to facilitate the passionate work of so many students and members of staff committed to leaving the community in a more sustainable place than they found it. I am thrilled that the hard work of so many individuals and groups in our community can be rightly celebrated through this award!”
So far this year students from Year 8 through to the Lower Sixth have joined the University of Reading for a Climate Change Action Planning Workshop. Leighton Park students created a sustainability game ‘How Bad are Bananas’ which kept primary schools present engaged with sustainability issues. Pupils recorded the experience of the day to make a follow up documentary. “I love the idea of creating documentaries which enable students to share their experiences and learnings from quite remarkable access to key climate summits.” commented Victoria Evans, Editor of Citykids magazine.
In March 2023, two teams of Year 7 students from NEWTs (Nature, Environment and Wildlife Team) Club joined the President of COP26, Sir Alok Sharma, for a youth Climate Summit entitled ‘There is Only One Earth’ at Green Park Business Park. The event united local schools and brought together climate experts from the University of Reading, and an energy consultant from Reduce Energy Ltd. The aim was to come up with pupil-led pledges in teams and for the delegates to collaboratively choose one pledge to commit to as schools for a year – with the ambition to meet annually going forward.
The Eco Schools student-led groups have achieved the coveted Green Flag Award, and the school has planted over 1,200 trees on the park this year, with the community also sponsoring a project to re-wild an area of the ancient Caledonian Forest in Scotland.
The School has a long-term commitment to sustainability and a strong interest in green issues. In recognition of COP26, in November 2021, the school ran a series of events:
The Green Senior School Award was awarded jointly to Leighton Park School and to Putney High School.
Leighton Park has received several recent accolades. The most recent UK Government analysis shows that the school’s Sixth Form leavers achieve the best academic progress in Berkshire, while the Independent Schools Inspectorate awarded it excellent in all areas in January 2022 – the highest possible attainment for an independent school.
The School was recognised as a national leader for Pupil Personal Development in 2022, winning the Independent Schools Association (ISA) Award for Excellence in this area. In the same, year the School gained the Wellbeing Award for Schools, accredited by the National Children’s Bureau.
Leighton Park won the national ISA Award for Outstanding Local Community Involvement in both 2021 and 2020. In 2020, the school won the national Award for Excellence in STEAM Education – reflecting the school’s strong reputation for teaching creative problem-solving – combining the analytical skills from Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), with creativity from the Arts. The School is also a Yamaha Flagship Music Education Partner, the only school in Europe to hold this level of partnership.
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