EcoIvo

Well done to our Year 13 on having handed in their NEAs! Year 9 Options - please do visit our Options page under KS4 "Choosing GCSE Geography" for our booklet and video

St Ivo Geography Department Online Portal
“Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future” - Michael Palin

Head of Department - Mr R Chambers

Home KS3 GCSE A Level Fieldwork Teaching Geography EcoIvo About Us

Follow @StIvoGeography

Eco-Ivo

An Introduction to the work of Eco-Ivo
The Eco-Ivo group comprises students who are interested and
enthusiastic about getting involved in environmental projects both
locally, nationally and globally. Meetings are held every fortnight in
the geography department to discuss strategies for promoting eco ideas and events and for raising environmental awareness in school. The group is run by our EcoIvo coordinator Mrs Morey.

Over the past few years the group has been instrumental in maintaining a high Fairtrade profile in school with an event each term. We were runners up in the Huntingdon District Council Green Hearts Community Awards in 2012; we have entered a bid each year since the start of these awards and were touched by the words that were expressed about the school on the night, "St Ivo has always been an environmental beacon amongst schools in Huntingdonshire and 2012 has been another successful year for all involved in environmental activities with the school." Further work has been focused on the recycling of textiles and to this end the school has been in collaboration with St Ives Town Football Club to site a textile bank on the far end of the Rec Centre car park. The theme of textile recycling will be promoted by the Environmental Network (organised and run by Stuart Nunn, St Ivo geography teacher) which coordinates work between St Ivo and the local primary schools. Further afield, we are still supporting the rescue of albatross chicks in the South Pacific by collecting stamps and closer to home, we are strong supporters of Holt Island Nature Reserve.

Meetings are held in N21 on Thursdays, Week B. All new members welcome!

Eco-Ivo News

ARCHIVE:

Eco-Ivo News - March 2017

This has been a busy term so far for Eco Ivo. Fairtrade Fortnight is the last week in February and the first week in March. As a Fairtrade status school we take our contribution to this seriously, so stalls selling Fairtrade products were set up each break and lunchtime for two weeks. Many students took part in spreading the message that we need to think carefully about where we buy our groceries and the message went out to the school that one or two Fairtrade goods in the shopping trolley each week was a positive move.

Apart from Fairtrade Fortnight, EcoIvo has been busy planting. Our Woodland Trust trees have been planted on a couple of sites in school. So many trees have been cut down in Cambridgeshire recently for road widening that, again, it was important to be seen to be planting and not removing trees.

Eco-Ivo has been helping St Ives in Bloom to restore and revitalise the corner area of Westwood Road cemetery. We are delighted to be involved in this project as it is literally on our doorstep! We have been planting for over a year now and have seen the area blossom and bloom. To continue to make this an ecological project St Ivo School has now bought 5 bird boxes that have been put up in surrounding trees - 3 for blue tits and 2 for robins. Further to this we are, at present, in correspondence with the local council and the parish church to ask for permission to locate a bench in the corner of the cemetery, which will mean that passers by walking along from the The Thicket will be able to sit and admire the flowers and shrubs. If given permission, EcoIvo would like the bench to be made from renewable materials and are researching this and ways to fund raise. If you are passing, please have a look at this area - it has been transformed and St Ivo students have had a positive role in doing this.

Mrs B Morey (EcoIvo coordinator)

Eco-Ivo News - December 2016

Such a lot has been happening this autumn term. We spent a soggy lunch hour planting shrubs in the wildflower area of the Westwood Road cemetery and we intend to carry on the planting theme by digging to plant saplings along the new section of the perimeter fence in school. These are trees we won in our Woodland Trust bid.

As we are conscious of our water as a precious resource we have decided to adopt Water Aid to support this year and so asked a representative who works for Anglian Water to come in and talk to the group. It was such an interesting talk - and a bonus was that the speaker was an ex-student.

With Christmas coming up we have sold Fairtrade chocolate and other festive items at break and lunchtime. We are Fairtrade school and want to spread the word that so much can now be bought under the Fairtrade banner. Please think about this as you do your Christmas shopping.

Stamps on Christmas cards can be brought in for our Save the Albatross boxes.

Mrs B Morey (EcoIvo coordinator)

Eco-Ivo News - July 2016

The Eco Ivo group meets on a Thursday lunchtime in Week B in the Geography Department. Anyone interested in the environment can come along, you do not have to be a geography student to get involved. All are welcome, from Year 7 through to 13. In fact, this year in our final assembly we are honouring two Year 13 students who joined in Year 7, Niall Tutt and Matt Hood.

This term has been a busy one for Eco Ivo. We have supported St Ives in Bloom with our second planting of flowers and plants in an open part of Westwood Road cemetery. What struck us this time when we were helping, (with so many of the plants flowering), was that this section has the path running along it and dog walkers, footballers, St Ivo students, people going to the Leisure Centre are all now gaining the beneft of seeing, what is now, a beautiful part of this area.

A bid was put into the Woodland Trust early in the term for trees to replace some that had been cut down and to plant new ones. We were not too hopeful as we were told that many schools had applied, but were overjoyed when we heard that we had been successful. New trees are arriving in the autumn and some of the EcoIvo students have already been around school with the premises manager looking at prospective planting sites.

Fairtrade is an important part of St Ivo School life and we have put forward our renewal for status, which we have held for over 6 years. As part of our work Eco Ivo members visited two primary schools - Thorndown and Holywell. This year the Year 9s and Year 12s talked about Fairtrade footballs, with Euro 2016 in full swing, as well as suggesting to the primary schoolchildren that one Fairtrade product is put into the weekly shop. A competition with Fairtrade footballs as prizes was well received.

Mrs B Morey (EcoIvo coordinator)

Eco-Ivo News - March 2016

Earlier this month, members of our Eco-Ivo committee worked with members of St Ives in Bloom, spending their lunchtime planting wildflower plants in a corner of the cemetery in Westwood Road and we look forward to building on our work with the local community.

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT 2016 - Find out what we got up to here…
Monday 29th February - Friday 13th March

- Fairtrade Stalls - every break and lunchtime during the fortnight
- The Kilombero Rice Challenge - find out more here
- The great “Fairtrade” Geography Breakfast - more info to come..

Eco-Ivo News - Oct-Dec 2015

Eco-Ivo members have been busy. Firstly, contact has been made with local primary schools and Eco-Ivo sixth formers are going in to schools and giving presentations on Fairtrade and the work done in St.Ivo by Eco-Ivo. Secondly, KS3 and KS4 Eco-Ivo members are ordering trees through the Woodland Trust. They are in negotiations with the school site team and premises manager to plant some saplings where the poplar trees used to be at the entrance to the school.

Finally, a message to all at Christmas time…. please save your stamps from your Christmas cards; buckets with Eco-Ivo on are in reception for these. The stamps will be sent to the RSPB to continue the good work they do on bird conservation both locally and around the world. Do have a green and merry Christmas! Please try and buy trees with root balls and use them every year or have an artificial one.

Mrs B Morey (EcoIvo coordinator)

Eco-Ivo News - Sept-Oct 2015

Eco-Ivo members have been busy this term. A meeting and lunch at Hinchingbrooke School was a highlight where Eco-Ivo spoke to members of the lower and upper school about what can be achieved environmentally in a school. Eco-Ivo has nearly a decade of strong ecological best practice to share and Hinchingbrooke School were most receptive hosts.

On the Open Evening on Thursday 8th October Eco-Ivo members manned Fairtrade stands on two sites in school; one in Reception and the other in the Geography Department. St Ivo is a Fairtrade school and has been for many years and we took this opportunity to celebrate by handing out cups of Fairtrade tea, coffee or chocolate. All that the members asked was that parents and families tried to buy at least one Fairtrade product when they went shopping.

Eco-Ivo Visit to Hinchingbrooke - October 2015

On Wednesday 7th October, 13 members of Eco-Ivo visited Hinchingbrooke, along with Mrs Morey and Mr Nunn, to help share the superb Eco-work undertaken at St Ivo. The students, ranging from Year 7-13, travelled to Hinchingbrooke with the aim of inspiring their students to take part and drive the Eco-work within their secondary school. It was a fantastic event seeing our students mixing with Hinchingbrooke's newly formed Eco-Warriors group, discussing environmental matters and the challenges of undertaking environmental projects in a large secondary school. The students were also enthusiastically disseminating advice to staff at the school and were invited to present in the sixth form assembly that afternoon. Several members of staff at Hinchingbrooke commented on how impressive Eco-Ivo were and were very keen for the group to further support them in the future. The students were a real credit to St Ivo!

Mrs B Morey (EcoIvo coordinator)

Eco-Ivo News - July 2015

St Ivo is a Fairtrade school and is proud of having that award and of keeping it for over 6 years now at the highest level of accreditation. This year many students helped out with the selling of Fairtrade chocolate and other products in Fairtrade Week held during February and March. Two stalls located in school were manned by students of all years, supervised by sixth formers. Fairtrade Fortnight could not happen in St Ivo School without the superb help of the sixth form and many thanks goes to them for their continued support of the environmental projects and good works that we do.

At the end of June, Eco-Ivo were happy to join in the excellent Eco Day organised by Mr Nunn as part of his Environmental Network. Participants came from a variety of primary schools around St Ives as well as Hinchingbrooke School, whose headmaster, teachers, sixth form and younger students were most impressed by the eco-work that takes place in St Ivo. Eco-Ivo members had great fun making Fairtrade ice cream using FT and locally-sourced ingredients. Each attendee was given a sample of the ice cream, which on a hot day, went down very well.

Mrs B Morey (EcoIvo coordinator)