Our collective resolution
Happy New Year.
A bracing start to 2025 this week with the Prep Porters out in force gritting the playgrounds and car parks and the pupils enjoying making puffs of hot steamy air from their breath. Periodically a pupil will pause mid-game and gaze up in the sky with a delighted look on their face as they spot the moon hanging above us like a giant frosty bauble. According to Lia Leendertz’s annual The Almanac (now a favourite of mine each year), 2025 is a ‘major lunar standstill’ year, something that occurs every 18.6 years and means the moon’s position in the sky will oscillate between being very high to very low. And so far this has resulted in beautifully sharp bright crescent moons high in the night sky as well as soft, looming daytime moons. The first full moon of the year will be on the 13th and is known by some as the Wolf Moon. Perhaps if we stand still for long enough (a rarity on some days), taking in the majestic nature of our moon, the urge to howl might emerge, it certainly doesn’t take long for the pupils to be thus inspired!
It was only right to discuss in our School Meeting this week, attended by Years 1 through to Year 6, the tradition of making New Year’s Resolutions. On our mission to empower the pupils to be agents of change I asked them to take control of reducing our food waste at the Prep. Every day our catering teams at the Prep and Senior School measure the amount of food waste from the servery, the production process and from plates and challenge us to keep reducing it day on day. The statistics for the UK are pretty poor with approximately 9.5 million tonnes of food waste annually which is enough to feed 30 million people. When the Brentwood Foodbank visited the School for our Harvest Service we were shocked to learn that every week 200 families seek help from them and this sharpened our desire to do more. At the Prep School each week we produce around 220kg of food waste from our plates, over a year that amounts to around 31,000 meals and we know we can do better. The challenge has been set to the pupils (and staff) to be thoughtful in how much food they ask to be piled on their plates and to only take what they will genuinely eat. That way our catering team can gradually reduce the amount of food prepared till we have it spot on to the amount needed to keep the pupils and staff fuelled up with minimal waste. True to form the pupils have already got off to a flying start by immediately reducing our waste from 102.89kg (our typical amount for Monday – Wednesday) to 92.78kg, proving that we can do it but it will require a sustained effort.
A new term sees a new team of School Councillors and the KS2 Council (Years 3 to 6) is already raring to go and our Reception to Year 2 Council will elect their representatives next week. The first task of the KS2 Council is to take our school wide Anti-Bullying Policy and to create a pupil friendly version and accompanying posters and presentations. All children need educating in what bullying is and what they can do about it, the ability to stand up for what is right is something we need throughout our lives. I look forward to seeing their ideas.
The first Head’s Award of 2025 goes to Jemima L in Year 6 for her curiosity and motivation. After her Geography lesson with Mr Dobson about the Mallory and Irvine Everest attempt, Jemima undertook her own independent research into other Everest summit attempts. She read a book and watched a film about the 1996 disaster and put together an educational presentation during her own time and completely under her own volition. Being intellectually curious and self-driven are fantastic attributes, and even more than that is Jemima’s desire to share her learning with others. Well done Jemima!
Wishing you a lovely weekend, moon howling included,
Alice Goodfellow
