48% of consumers say they are ready to adapt their habits to save the environment (greencitizen.com). But where do you start? How can we move sustainability from being a buzzword to becoming everyday environmentalism? One such way may be by simply connecting with the natural world around us.
Each morning, I take the opportunity to collect my thoughts for the day ahead as I walk our pastoral dog, Bronte, across the school field. I still recognise how lucky we are to reside in 25 acres of beautiful green bathing space and enjoy watching our girls play and relax across the outside spaces.
There have been some interesting US studies this month, published in the Jama Network Open, stating how children who live near green spaces such as forests, parks, or large gardens have lower anxiety and depression symptoms compared to those who do not. Children who are five years old and more connected to nature have fewer symptoms of loneliness and avoidance of social situations. This link between happiness and nature persists even when accounting for factors such as the socio-economic status of the area and parent education. Green initiatives, such as Forest School and Learning Outside the Classroom, are shown to reduce the risk of early onset emotional issues in children.
For those of you who are Junior School parents, you will be very aware of the fantastic outdoor learning that Mrs. Shearman leads, but you may not be aware that she is in the final stages of achieving our Learning Outside the Classroom Award. Her work has been supported by the generous contributions of the BHPA, who have bought new resources and equipment for our Forest School area, located adjacent to our lake.
Dr. Nissa Towe-Goodnam from the University of Caroline concludes that “research supports existing evidence that being in nature is good for kids.” At Bromley High School, we have created a strategy to preserve natural areas within our school, including creating wildlife corridors, restoring sections of our lake, biodiversity gardens, and introducing animal homes. We are also investing in our estates as we build our sensory garden for the Junior School and have an enormous sustainability focus for our new school frontage. As you will have read, our courtyard development has an emphasis on learning outside, and our planning application has now been submitted to the London Borough of Bromley. We believe that encouraging our girls to appreciate and use our expansive outside spaces that we are blessed to have here will make a difference to their emotional health both now and in the future.
This week for our school Wellbeing Week, we have looked at the theme of ‘connect’ and have used our green spaces and sustainability drive to really engage with the spirit of bonding with each other and the local environment. Mrs. Lovett (Head of Art) has been recently appointed as the GDST Trust Consultant Teacher, and I am thrilled that she will have the capacity to build on her expertise, and I know that Bromley High School will benefit from this exposure as well. On Monday, Mrs. Lovett led a whole school Earth Day agenda, which included the girls wearing green and blue accessories and sharing earth pledges, which have been displayed in the two schools. The girls have enjoyed outdoor spaces with stroll and glow events, sustainable fashion ideas, and they have made recyclable chain decorations.
Inviting the natural environment to be a part of our everyday lives can be a moving experience and one that brings more harmony to our lives.
Mrs Emily Codling, Headmistress