Enterprise News 2009

Paddington Academy has gone green - not in colour, but through the Eco-Schools and Social Enterprise! We have started to improve the environment, save and also make money and we have achieved two international awards in recognition of our hard work.
Since joining the Eco-Schools programme in January, a group of students have been working hard to reduce our impact on the environment. To have achieved both Bronze and Silver awards in this short time has truly motivated both pupils and staff and has ensured that we are all focused on achieving a Green Flag award next year.
We set up an action team which comprises 20 students in Year 10 and 3 adult members. The team met every week in their Enterprise lesson and at each of the meetings the minutes were recorded by one of our students.

Bronze Award

The action team completed a formal Environmental Review which formed the baseline to our work. From the results we were able to select the areas that most needed improving or were easiest to get started on. These areas were: Recycling/ Waste and Energy (electricity usage).
We then prepared a detailed action plan which has been followed, extended and maintained by the student team to help show our progress forward.
We achieved our Bronze award in April having got all the base work set up and recycling well underway. At this stage we also placed small notices by all computers to remind pupils and staff to turn them off when not needed, and we successfully reduced kitchen waste by building and using a compost bin and Wormery.
To celebrate World Earth Day in April, the students researched suppliers then designed and arranged the printing of recycled paper pens. They marketed and promoted the sale of the pens to staff and sixth form and students and were responsible for managing their eco-enterprise financial account. They successfully made a £80 profit which was donated to Tolerance International, an environmental group who ran a Global Warming workshop with Year 9 students.

Working together

Working together with the school and local community groups helped raise the profile of our projects and bring additional support. To encourage this we produced articles for the school newsletter and we created a school webpage. Finally, we created an Academy eco ‘positive’ code of conduct which has been presented as an acrostic poem and displayed around the school and on our webpage.

Silver Award

In May we started work towards our Silver Award which has involved us in our ‘Switch-off Fridays’ challenge. We monitored which classes are or are not turning off projectors and computers and through keeping records of energy bills we monitored any changes in electricity consumption. To encourage staff to be more responsible for this the team made a short film about this issue which is played around the Academy on the big TV screens.
We continued to promote the correct use of paper recycling bins through advisory posters and assemblies. Our premises officer who monitors the amount of wheelie bins taken for landfill said that there had been a reduction since our recycling monitoring started. We also have more uncontaminated recycling - not only is this an environmental success but a financial one too.

Organic Garden

The Eco-Action team was awarded £500 by Westminster Council towards creating an organic garden at the school. Students measured the area and carried out a whole school survey to find out what the Academy community wanted in their garden. The results were presented to a professional landscaping company who used them to draw up a design and provide a quote for work. Enterprise students will undertake the maintenance and planting when it is established next year. Produce from the garden will be taken to the staff room and sold in order to generate a small income and it is hoped that in the future enough produce will be grown to use in other Enterprise projects.
In July we were invited to the London Sustainable Schools celebration. The students made a short presentation in front of 150 delegates about our work at Paddington Academy and felt honoured to receive our silver award from the Mayor. I feel that through ‘Social’ Enterprise, and especially Eco-Schools, we have learnt and developed skills for employability and really made pupils (and staff) aware of how our actions affect our environment. We really do need to act now to ensure we save our planet for future generations to come.

Spencer Stuart is one of the world's leading executive search consulting firms. They work with clients across a range of industries for top companies in 27 countries around the world providing guidance and advice on senior leadership recruitment.
A team of consultants from Spencer Stuart volunteered to work with students at Paddington Academy to share their expertise in developing skills for employability.

It was a fantastic day with both students and volunteers enjoying the workshops. The students’ feedback demonstrates the value they place in school and business partnerships:
 “It has really improved my confidence when applying for jobs and improved my interview skills”
“I found the body language exercise very interesting, I’m more aware of how I act when I’m nervous”
“The bit on interview questions was really useful so I can prepare the best answers”
“I learnt what questions I can and can’t be asked in an interview and have more of an idea of HOW to answer them”

“I feel more confident now about getting a job.”

Nine Year 12 students spent a glorious two days in the beautiful Chew Valley, at Folly Farm near Bristol, training to become young enterprise speakers. The whole residential was organised by ‘We are what we do’ the organisation who are famous for the ‘I’m not a plastic bag’ and ‘Change the world for a fiver’ to help create a global movement of doing and changing; doing small actions in order to make big changes.

The students volunteered to become young speakers to promote an awareness of the environment by presenting ideas for social enterprise in order to improve our community area. The actions range from recycling to saying hello in the different languages spoken in school and intergenerational inclusion. The students joined 30 other students from London schools on Thursday 2nd July. A task was then set up for students to present an ‘action’ to a target audience of primary school students which could be turned into a 30 second video. All schools were presented with a Flip video camera to use during the training and for filming on return to Paddington Academy. Training in skills required to present, speak to an audience and positively convey the ethoses of ‘We are what we do’ were developed throughout the day. These also extend student’s enterprise for employability skills.

It was a relaxing way to spend two days and a great opportunity for the students to be enterprising and creative. The whole trip was funded by the ‘We are what we do’ organisation and was a great success.