Our Stewardship Team 

Two children from each class, plus the house captains, make up the Stewardship Team. They play an important role in encouraging the whole community to take responsibility for the care of God’s creation, based on the words of Pope Francis in Laudato Si.

The children are passionate advocates of reducing waste and challenging our throwaway culture. They raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity and global inequality linked to our use of the earth’s resources. The team works in partnership with Caritas Portsmouth to make a difference in our school and local community. The principles of Catholic Social Teaching are at the heart of the work of the Stewardship Team.

The Stewardship Team meets every three weeks to discuss current issues, find solutions to problems within the school community and support local, national and global campaigns.

The Stewardship Team aims to:

• Promote a culture of reducing waste, reusing what we have and recycling what we use
• Actively participate in local, national and global projects
• Support and encourage others to change their habits
• Develop our school building and grounds to increasingly support sustainability and biodiversity
• Make a difference to the world

Project Impact

During the autumn term, the Stewardship Team researched and presented information to the school about energy use and how we can save energy. Small changes, such as turning off the lights, has made a difference.

In partnership with a local company, the Stewardship Team has provided recycling bins for each class. They have encouraged everyone to use less paper and to recycle more paper instead of throwing it in the bin.

In the spring term, the Stewardship Team turned their attention to water use in the toilets and washbasins. As a result, the school raised £411 to support the construction and maintenance of toilets in seven different countries worldwide with the charity ‘Toilet Twinning.’ This has led to a clear message about respectful use of our own toilets, which we are lucky to have!

Current Projects

The Stewardship Team is currently working with Zach from Caritas to develop different areas of the school site. They have conducted an audit of the grounds and are eagerly awaiting seeds and plants supplied by Caritas who will also be able to provide seeds and saplings for bright pollinator plants for the memorial garden.

Caritas will also support a community refurbishment day to enhance the prayer garden and will work with the parish to secure some established trees to plant in the area. The team has also obtained four fruit trees which will be planted near the prayer garden to create a small orchard.

The Stewardship Team has also worked with ‘Kids Just Recycle’ to have a clothes recycling bank on the school site, near the bike shed, for parents and children to donate unwanted clothes for recycling and reuse. The clothes bank should be delivered soon!