All things Eco at Bentley School

“Nobody is too small to make a difference.”

Greta Thunberg

Our school values Love, Courage, Community are at the heart of everything we do at Bentley, including our Eco Council, termly Eco lessons and Forest School provision. From Year R we teach the children to love our planet and how to protect it. Taking positive action for the planet is encouraged with children litter picking, writing letters and campaigning in school to create a better world. 

Developing School Grounds

Through termly Eco Lessons, linked with the work of our Eco Council, the children learn to respect and care for our natural world. This love for nature is particularly evident in the children’s enthusiasm for developing our school grounds. In 2022 as part of our Eco Schools Award, the children started to develop a nature reserve in our school woods.    Thanks to our after-school Nature Club, we now have a dedicated a corner of our woodland for nature by creating bug homes, a hedgehog hideout, bird feeding station and bird boxes as well as log and leaf piles. Through the nature reserve, the children are learning the importance of respecting nature and really relish the opportunity to visit during lessons for bug hunting and other nature activities.

National Education Nature Park

 

In 2023 we were amongst the first cohort of schools to join the National Education Nature Park.  This free initiative, led by the Natural History Museum and funded by the government, aims to empower young people to protect nature.  Through the development of our school grounds, it is wonderful to know that we are part of something bigger as the combined area of all of the school grounds in the England is equivalent to twice the size of the city of Birmingham!

The Attenborough Garden 

Pupils at Bentley are passionate about nature and have been wilding their site with teacher and sustainability lead, Emma Jones, for several years.  In 2023 the school signed up to be part of the National Education Nature Park, a programme led by the Department for Education in partnership with the Natural History Museum and RHS, which aims to encourage schools to develop their grounds for nature.  However, it was the declaration of a butterfly emergency by Butterfly Conservation in 2024 which accelerated the school’s plans and spurred the pupils into action, showing its pupils how to turn something negative, like the decline in butterflies, into positive action.
Together with the school’s Eco Council, a competition was launched for the children to design a garden to encourage wildlife, especially pollinators.  Thirteen designs were chosen, created by children from each class.  In Spring 2025, the young garden designers assembled in the garden ready to start planning the final design.  There had previously been a lovely garden on the site and we were keen to ensure that this was incorporated into the garden.  No idea was deemed too challenging including a butterfly-shaped raised bed and a model village of Bentley for bugs!  
The garden took a year to create and became a lovely community project, with local residents and businesses kindly sharing their skills, time and resources. This included the Alton’s Men’s Shed who designed and made the fantastic model bug village of Bentley! Nearly 40 children participated in the garden’s creation including the school’s Nature Guardians and Eco Council.  What started out as a response to the butterfly emergency has blossomed into a space not just for butterflies but also a place where members of the school community can come to connect with nature, learn and experience the awe and wonder of the natural world. Eleanor, one of the school’s Nature Guardians and garden designers commented, “I especially liked planting the wildflowers because it was peaceful and calming.”
Nearly two years after the Butterfly Emergency was announced, The Attenborough Garden was opened during a special ceremony on May 8th, as part of our Attenborough Day to celebrate Sir David’s 100th birthday. The beautiful garden is now open for the whole school community to enjoy from outdoor science lessons to stories in the gazebo which provides shelter on wet days so that the garden can be enjoyed in all seasons, whatever the weather!  Naming the garden after Sir David Attenborough was a unanimous decision across the school community and a wonderful way to celebrate his 100th birthday.  Over the years, the garden will undoubtedly have a positive impact on every visitor from butterflies to children.  However, its lasting legacy will be that it will inspire future scientists, naturalists and conservationists; just as Sir David Attenborough has done for decades.  

Eco Council 

Launched in 2019, our Eco Council is evidence of the passion our pupils have for our environment.  Twelve children from Year 1 to Year 6 are elected each year to participate in Eco Council with pupil empowerment at the heart of everything we do. Since 2019, we have won three awards, attended several conferences, done many litter picks, written letters, welcomed our MP, attended school and community events, presented assemblies and even been on the local radio! In 2024 we were especially proud to have been awarded our second Eco Schools Award, this time with a distinction.

 

Young ACAN Partner

Young ACAN is the youth branch of ACAN – Alton Climate Action Network.  Bentley is proud to be part of its schools’ partnership, working together with Alton College and local primary and secondary schools to empower young people to take action for the planet.  As part of this partnership children from Eco Council attend the regular Eco Conferences and participate in competitions and events.  Teachers from the partner schools meet regularly to share ideas and plan events, showing the young people in their schools how collectively we all care about the future of the planet.

Ministry of Eco Education

Bentley signed up to the Ministry of Eco Education as a way to access free resources and planning to deliver lessons about climate change, nature and sustainability. In 2024 we started a journey to become a MofEE pioneer school. The teachers at Bentley are now on a 5-step journey to embed sustainability across the curriculum, using the resources and lessons available on the MofEE website.