Our international school’s eco-friendly profile—on Earth Day 2020

Earth Day brings the environment and climate change to the forefront of our minds. One of the very few positive side effects of the awful Covid-19 pandemic is the impact that it has had on the environment—shrinking our carbon footprint. This benefit, however, is likely to be only temporary unless we continue to educate, advocate and make more environmentally friendly choices. As an international school, we carry this responsibility—because it all starts with educating the next generation.

How The British School in The Netherlands helps to ensure environmental sustainability

1. Educating and Advocating

Caring for the environment is a value we strive to instil in our students. Mr Environmental Integrity is part of our character profile—our shared values system to help guide the attitudes, efforts and future aspirations of all our students. The Character Profile has starred in lessons, assemblies, multiple displays across all the school sites, parental engagement and information evenings, web pages, periodical magazines, musical performances and end of year student reports; it is very much alive! 

The Forest School Programme of outdoor education is firmly established within our Junior Schools. Through this, students become familiar with, and learn to care for the natural environment.

Environmental initiatives, projects and campaigns take place regularly across all our campuses. Many of our campuses have Eco Student leaders. We have school beekeeping projects at three sites and gardens for children to grow vegetables. Read more about our activities on the BSN Eco blog.

2. Modelling our values through Green Energy and Sustainable Building

As per 1 January 2020, we switched our energy provider over to Eneco and we use 100% Green HollandseWind Energy on all campuses. After all, we are in a country known for its windmills.

Construction for our new Senior School in Leidschenveen, which opened in 2018, is ongoing. With this project, we had the chance to design purposely for sustainability, in addition to flexible learning spaces. Many environmental and sustainable elements that enhance energy performance will be incorporated into the building; for example, solar panels and ventilation with CO₂ sensors. It is a ‘Cradle to Cradle’ certified school; using materials that are reusable and recyclable. 

Earth Day Network:

It’s not a day—it’s a movement

3. Students and staff taking Action

The popular Senior School Environmental Committee, established in 2009, work on projects with the aim of making the school more sustainable and environmentally friendly. The committee is divided into five sub-groups, each with a specific focus; these are Biodiversity, Waste, Energy, Allotment and Global Citizenship.

One of the latest initiatives is EcoBuisness, which aims to make sustainable products, such as reusable beeswax cloths, for purchase.

Previous and ongoing projects include:

• planning, preparation and establishment of the SSV Eco-Garden.
• reducing waste by eliminating paper cups and introducing water bottles for all students.
• producing energy for the National Grid with the introduction of new solar panels.
• keeping an ongoing wildlife catalogue of the sightings of flora and fauna in the Eco-Garden.
• the organisation of Green Days to raise environmental awareness.
• starting an allotment to grow our own fruit and vegetables.

The British School in The Netherlands is the first international school in the world to integrate the Eco Seek School platform into our school culture. The ECO Seek Foundation provides students, schools and universities with access to resources, structure, networks and a continuous improvement development programme. The ECO Seek Programme emphasises student development through practical and sustainable responses to environmental challenges.

Read more on the environmental committee and its numerous activities.

All these diverse efforts by our students and staff, on every campus, help embed attention, appreciation and concern for our environment within our school culture.