At Putney High School, our eco-conscience has always been strong, but when Greta Thunberg seized the public consciousness and showed a whole generation the power of their own voice, Putney decided to turn protest into action. Fundamentally we decided that “It Starts with Me” and our whole community quickly committed to making the small but positive changes which collectively could promote change.

Every year Putney’s BREATHE week offers pupils from across the Junior and Senior schools the opportunity to participate in litter-picks, tree-planting, ‘plastic hackathons’, and a myriad of workshops and projects that help us save electricity and reduce paper and food waste. Over the course of the week, we collect and examine data that proves the measurable impact on reducing pollution, energy usage and the school’s carbon footprint more broadly.

Head of Senior School, Heidi Armstrong explained, “The scheme involves the whole school community in showing how small changes in both mindset and behaviour can actually make a large and lasting impact. It’s the starting point for positive change not only in attitudes, but improvement to our environment both locally, and more widely.”

The sustainable development of our new Athena Centre for Science, Music, Drama and Debating offered us the perfect opportunity to take a closer look at the school’s green infrastructure. With the help of a firm of sustainability architects and an environmental consultant, we undertook a study to learn how environmental factors might impact learning and behaviour and how bringing the natural world into the classroom could not only enhance air quality and environment, but even have the desirable by-product of improving mood and focus in lessons.

The importance of plants in cleaning the air has been known for a long time but we didn’t realise just how much until we had completed our research. Not only did the plants we brought into the classroom measurably enrich brain boosting oxygen, they also had a significant effect on wellbeing. Feedback from students and staff was overwhelmingly positive with 78 per cent of students reportedly “feeling healthier”, and not only did they feel better, they told us how they “loved working in the classrooms” and felt a real impact on their ability to concentrate in lessons.