Heswall School – The Wirral
Heswall Primary is a popular and successful school close to the centre of Heswall and bordering on the beautiful Barnston fields. They are blessed with wonderful grounds including a huge field with amazing woodland areas – surrounded by trees and plants. They ensure their children consistently use the grounds and as a result have been named as an ‘Eco-Ambassador School’ and won Wirral Eco Award in 2014 in recognition of our waste management activities
‘Our ridan composter is working very efficiently, a local carpentry shop is providing wood shavings and we are adding about 10 litres of food waste every day to the composter. Our landfill costs have decreased significantly and we use the compost on our raised beds. Vegetables are then used by our kitchen to produce exciting recipes for the children to try such as apple and blackberry sponge, spicy potato wedges, pea and ham soup, and plum jam – served at our toast club!’
Headteacher John Roberts
Number of students: 200
Quantity of food waste going into the Ridan: 50 litres per week
Saving in food waste collections: £415 per year
Cost saving in compost: £150 per year
How have the students been involved?: All pupils take part in outdoor lessons – part of which involves digging over raised beds, adding compost and planting vegetables – through to harvesting in September/ October.
Have you integrated composting into the curriculum, if so how: We employ additional teaching staff to teach outdoor learning. Pupils in Year 5 and 6 also take responsibility for taking food waste from our school kitchen each day (approximately 10 litres) and adding it to the composter.
Did you get any grants or LA support? If so how much?: Heswall did not received any grants to support the project. It was their aim to pay for the composter through the savings they make on bin costs and not having to buy compost.
