Think Global Act Local

Year 8 have embarked on a hands-on sustainability project, collaborating with a school in Rwanda.

Each year, Year 8 pupils consolidate their learning about UN sustainable development goals through our cross-curricular Think Global Act Local initiative – one of the many academic enrichment activities designed to expand our pupils’ horizons and empower them to effect change. Girls meet virtually with pupils from Umubano Academy in Kigali to learn about product lifecycles and to share ideas on how to solve local and global environmental issues.

This term, for the first module of the programme, pupils devised creative ways to repurpose non-recyclable waste otherwise destined for landfill. During a busy day in the DT studios, girls worked in teams to transform old plastic bags, tetrapaks and crisp packets into some wonderfully innovative new products: eye-catching outfits fashioned from popcorn packets, practical storage solutions constructed from used coffee cups, and a grand hamster house made with milk cartons.

The judges commended the pupils on their originality, good design process and excellent prototyping, suggesting they could envisage many of their ideas being realised and sold. Congratulations to our teams who were awarded prizes for their creative designs: a lamp made from CDs, a wallet made from coffee cups, a waterproof tote bag made from black plastic and waste fabric, and a waterbottle holder made from outgrown school uniform.

Our annual social action and eco-initiative is one of the many ways we encourage girls to develop the confidence and skills to drive positive change in the outside world.