IMPACT Day highlighted how human activities have significantly impacted the Earth, leading to various environmental and social challenges.
The day was planned with various activities to ensure that there was as much exposure to new ideas as possible. Our pupils used the planetarium to see and learn about how global warming is being driven by greenhouse gas emissions and how this has resulted in rising temperatures, melting ice caps, and more frequent extreme weather events. The Art session led by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation showed our children that art can be used to highlight animals that are endangered due to poaching which is decimating wildlife populations and pushing many species towards extinction as well as disrupting ecosystems.
Our ‘Ditch the Dirt’ activity highlighted to our children that having close access to clean water remains a critical issue, with pollution and overuse depleting freshwater resources, affecting both humans and wildlife. In Humanities, the children learnt about protecting and restoring our environment, creating seed paper bombs to help spread the message and restore our green spaces. Our Geography department highlighted how detrimental ‘fast fashion’ is to the environment due to its unsustainable production and consumption patterns. The rapid turnover of trends encourages overproduction, leading to excessive waste as clothes are quickly discarded. Finally, our History department took a different route and explored the decisions made before WWII and how these then impacted the world in the months and years that followed.
This wide variety of activities has encouraged the children to think of how they can work together to make the best decisions to ensure that sustainable practices and global cooperation are at the forefront of our minds in order to protect our planet and its inhabitants.