James Allen’s Girls’ School, James Allen’s Prep and Pre-Prep Schools aim to play a full part in a wider sustainable community. We can do this by learning to cooperate with nature in sustaining life, both through the curriculum and through extracurricular activities that positively influence the wider community. We aim to take actions which will link the subjects we study in both predictable and unexpected ways that reflect the true ‘knock-on’ effects that we find in nature.

For some time now we have been making sensible changes to our environmental initiatives: the ways in which we recycle waste, heat and light our buildings, look after our grounds, source our food.  We think of ourselves as good neighbours in our local community; everyone is actively encouraged to travel safely to and from school.

We take part in the Park and Stride week in May each year. Mrs Margaret Davis and Miss Irene Riddell attended a Dulwich Going Greener initiative at the Francis Peek Centre, Dulwich Park, with MP Tessa Jowell and the Sustainable Services team from Southwark in 2008. Our Environment Manager, Mr Dave Strong works to raise awareness of green issues and our environment using our copse, ponds and gardens with Year 7+8 pupils in Biology Club, the pre-prep and Turney School for children with special needs. Dave goes into Southwark state primary schools to advise them on making the best use of their environmental resources. Our neighbouring state primary school, Bessemer Grange, helped Dave to plant 100 trees recently, which they admire as they use our playing fields! Most importantly, we care about global sustainability and know that we have a role to play. The ETF (Environmental Task Force) hold weekly meetings and gave an assembly in April with a blunt message:

· Once we throw something away, it’s no longer our responsibility, but it hasn’t actually disappeared; it’s just  someone's problem

· Everything we do has consequences even if we ourselves can’t see it.

Click here for our Eco Code.

Just a Minute with the Eco group