This year’s ‘Clothes Swap’ event reached a significant milestone with over 900 donations, making it the largest and most successful one to date. The initiative, spearheaded by our pupil-led eco council, began in September when members expressed their interest and commitment to sustainability and creating a greener School.
The swap was managed by a token system where each item of clothing donated earned a token that could be exchanged for any item contributed by pupils and staff. The event spanned three days, drawing nearly everyone in the school to participate and contribute, resulting in a vast array of new clothes finding homes. Two charities were selected, including the local charity Young Mums based in Sherborne. The event generated £140 from additional clothing purchases beyond token allotments, which was donated to the charity. Leftover clothes were donated to Bags2School, supporting employment opportunities in Eastern Europe, South America and East and West Africa.
Additionally, we supported a local business, Red Panda, focused on planet protection initiatives. A self-care package was assembled from purchases made, and pupils had the opportunity to enter a raffle to win these items, further contributing to local businesses and sustainability efforts.
School-wide awareness was crucial to the events success, achieved through announcements in prayers, reminders, and eye-catching posters designed by Melissa M in U5. We also used our pupil-led Instagram platform to share sneak peaks of some of the amazing clothes we received to encourage girls to come along to the event as well as posting interesting articles for those who were keen to research a greener environment.
In addition to the Clothes Swap, we are proud to have achieved The Eco-Schools Green Flag this year, an international accreditation for our work in making the School more environmentally friendly and for raising eco-awareness. We have also organised the installation of meters across the School to assess our energy consumption and have set up timers on lighting to reduce energy usage.
We are very proud of the volume of clothes that found new homes and the school’s commitment to social and environmental sustainability. We look forward to seeing the new Eco Prefects take up their roles in September and continue to embrace sustainable initiatives school wide, just as we have done.
Article written by Maddy, Poppy, Tati and Emily, Eco Prefects (U6)
