Kingswood is passionate about sustainability and its ‘Global Goals Sustainability Day’ was another fantastic opportunity for students to learn more about the impact of climate change and to fully immerse themselves in sustainability-focused workshops and inspirational talks.
Year 9 Global Goal students embarked on morning workshops in art. Using fabric donated, that otherwise would have gone to landfill, and old plastic bottles, they created a patchwork fabric. Some groups dyed the fabric for others to then print collagraphs of old plastic bottles, whilst others created cyanotypes using rubbish and news articles on ocean pollution.
The final groups began sewing the fabrics into a patchwork and made buttons out of old fabric conditioner bottles. Discussions around crude oil as a finite resource and pollutant, along with the reduction of plastic use in the first place, took place throughout.
Cedric, a Kingswood pupil and a member of the eco alliance team, explains, “As a school, we promote global goals through a number of activities, such as tree planting, beach cleaning, food waste collecting, second-hand clothes sale and the most recent one would be our school’s Global Goals Day’.
“Wanting to contribute to limiting the impact of global warming and climate change, pupils came up with some activities that we would be able to organise on global goals day. After an assembly presentation, we introduced the concept of global goals and the importance of sustainable development.
“For the global goals dress, there were three teams: one was responsible for cutting out buttons using used up laundry detergent containers; another team was in charge of dyeing fabrics; and the last team helped with the fabric printings. I assisted the dyeing team and it was so much fun, I was the one cutting the fabric into squares and the Year 9s were the ones dyeing them.
“For the second period, Izzy, Amelie and I all participated in the sun printing activity. What we had to do is basically place different objects, such as crushed-to-flat plastic bottles, onto the fabrics and leave them under the sun for around 30 minutes. After that time, we would have these beautiful printings on the fabrics, ready to be sewed together and made into a dress which would be the big final outcome.
“Global goals day was such a meaningful day to me – not only do I get to have the chance to conquer my fear of public speaking, I also got to work as a team and create these amazing printings on fabrics, all thanks to the opportunities provided by the teachers and the school.”