Young patients learn about the environment during week of activities

When young people are admitted to St Andrew’s, their education in no way gets put on hold.  Thanks to St Andrew’s College our young people are learning a full curriculum, with many achieving recognisable qualifications.

We all know about the challenges that the global environment is facing. From climate change to plastic use, environmental issues have always been a hot topic. This week, our adolescent patients have been learning all about the impact people have on the earth, by taking part in a series of educational enrichment activities.

The pupils have been learning how wasting energy has a negative effect on our planet, the population and wildlife. They have also taken part in sessions, covering the impact of fast fashion on the environment, and shared ideas for reusing clothing and making greener choices regarding the clothes we wear.

The young people also got their hands dirty, taking part in some tree planting outside which was supported by the grounds team. As well as making bee bombs to encourage wildflowers, the pupils had the opportunity to learn about how they can reduce our carbon footprint.

Peter Rainford, Curriculum Lead for the college, helped to organise the activities.

"It has been a great project – many thanks to Guy Bowden, St Andrew’s Energy Manager, who co-produced all the activities with us. Our college has been decorated with impactful displays and posters, and the team worked hard to deliver some engaging and thought provoking sessions for our young people. This even involved adopting a polar bear - which led to one of our teachers dressing as a polar bear for the day!

 “The activities aimed to educate the young people in our care about their influence on the planet, and to create some ownership and responsibility for reducing our carbon footprint together, by being mindful of electricity use and the factors which harm the planet we live on.  It was a really fantastic day!”

 At St Andrew's, we want to do as much as we can to help save the environment. Here are some key facts and initiatives that you may or may not be aware of...

•  For the charity overall, our total energy consumption is down 3.6% versus last year. Electricity consumption is down 6.5%. This has reduced our Carbon emissions by 236 tonnes/CO2
• Many office areas in our Northampton hospital have been converted to LED lighting
• The combined heat and power plant in one of our buildings provides ‘free’ electricity which we use onsite as a by-product from generating heat for the building. This saves us drawing electricity from the National Grid
• We have replaced polystyrene water cups with a new recyclable paper cups. All of our cafes now have eco friendly bamboo cups and mugs for sale, and We've also worked with our sandwich suppliers to introduce recyclable packaging
• The suppliers we use for our cold drinks all use recyclable plastic, our used cooking oil currently goes back to Oileco for upcycling into bio fuel, and our hand towels are now all recyclable.