The inaugural meeting of the PCLC School Council was held in the esteemed Harlow Council Chamber and heralds the start of a long-term project dedicated to the schools’ commitment to sustainable living.

Made up of house captains from the primary schools and some of Passmores’ student leaders from years 7-10, their objective is to raise environmental awareness among the school and wider community, encouraging pupils to work together to find greener ways of sustaining their schools.

Initiatives such as recycling bins in every classroom, the change from plastic to metal cutlery, and energy saving sensor-controlled lighting have already been implemented. But the students want to achieve much more. To get the ball rolling, Passmores’ student representatives who had recently returned from the Youth Empowerment Sustainability Summit in New York, presented their research to their fellow Student Council members and enthusiastically discussed their ideas for greater strides towards improvement.

Pledges have been made to carry out litter picks and eradicate the use of single use plastic water bottles at all the PCLC’s schools. Now the students have been tasked with agreeing pledges for their own individual schools’ contributions to sustainability. They will meet again in the summer term to discuss these pledges and create their plan of action. In doing so, the students will also be working towards achieving the Eco-Schools Award, an internationally recognised award for excellence in environmental action and learning.

Passmores’ Director of Learning, Abi Cunningham said: ‘Thank you to Harlow Council for allowing our students to meet in the Council Chamber to discuss our next steps in sustainability. Our students spoke with impressive levels of maturity and confidence. Pledges have been made, now the hard work begins!’