Plastic Free School Workshops

Two workshops on plastic education examining the causes, effects and solutions to plastic pollution and how to reduce plastic in schools so your school can become eco friendly. Students will be trained to peer educate other students on plastic.

These workshops give students the tools to spread awareness about plastic throughout the school through peer education initiatives.

Workshop One: An Introduction

Introduction to the causes, effects and solutions to plastic pollution

Campaign strategy planning: Identifying the target audience, audience channels, campaign blocks, who needs to be on board, enlistment of ideas and execution.

Task assignment: Students will be assigned roles in the group which can be divided up on each students interest and strengths for example Presentations team, social media, canteen, surveys, petitions, bin audits, bottle research, meetings etc The students will have weekly tasks and responsibilities to fulfill until they achieve their target goal of becoming plastic free. This can be achieved within 6 weeks.

Duration: A double period or two hours

Workshop Two: Leadership

Students will be taught to run a plastic free workshop that they will then in turn teach to the other students in school so you school can turn into a plastic free school step by step.

Peer education is a highly effective form of education that promotes personal development creativity and knowledge whilst giving young people a sense of empowerment and responsibility. Other skills include self-awareness, confidence and personal skills.

Duration: A double period or two hours

“Newpark is home to Ireland’s first single use plastic free school. This was a student led campaign that was an initiative from the Education for Sustainability 8-week transition year module. The module offered the students a platform to take action on an environmental topic that was important to them. 14 students worked together to rid their school of single use plastic by designing a strategic campaign that worked with school stakeholders and that targeted every level of the school community and the outside businesses The students focus for the campaign was plastic bottles and packaging in the school canteen. They mapped out their campaign by identifying tasks and dividing them up in relation to each students’ strengths and skills. To assess the problem with plastic in school the students did a bin audit to measure the problem and as a baseline measure for improvement. A survey team surveyed parents’ staff and students. A petitions team collected 800 signatures to support a plastic-free school. They also sent the petitions to the relevant Governmental Ministers. The presentations team pitched to the teachers, Parent Teachers Association and to the Board of Management.The canteen team researched solutions to packaging for the canteen area and liaised with the canteen manager during the transition. The students also had a social media team for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and an artwork team that designed posters for the campaign. The students campaign was a momentous success which created a chain reaction from schools across Ireland transitioning to single use plastic free schools. Newparks step by step campaign model has been replicated in 44 schools to date. Get in touch if you would like support to transition your school to a single use plastic free campus.”
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