Fight for the Environment takes Centre Stage at Truro High School

Pupils at Truro High School are challenging some of the UK’s best known companies over their environmental policies and continued allegiance to single-use plastic.

The girls have written to the CEOs of a number of companies demanding answers and are also returning boxes of unwanted packing to others. The project is part of Truro High School’s Learn Challenge Curriculum which sees girls as young as 4 years old encouraged to question the status quo and have a voice in the campaign for change.

Teacher Yvette Simpson explained: “This approach to learning is built around the principle of the girls having greater involvement and personal investment in their work. It requires deep thinking, encourages the class to work using a question as the starting point, and for their interests to guide the research. Prep 5 have certainly relished this opportunity and driven the recycling project out of the confines of the classroom into the school and community as a whole.”

Even the school’s youngest pupils are getting involved with a reading of Jack and the Beanstalk, leading to an investigation into the different kinds of beans and a discussion, not only about their taste, but about the implication of air miles and organic foods. There’s practical work too with initiatives ranging from beach cleans to creating a Japanese-inspired garden to improve the Pre-Prep Department’s own learning environment.

This September the school is launching a new bespoke Pre-Prep unit in which the girls will be taught by stage not age, therefore enabling pupils to work at their own pace, feeding their enthusiasm to forge ahead in some subjects while providing any additional support that may be needed in others.