Sustainability

At the David Ross Education Trust, we are committed to building a greener, more sustainable future for our students, staff and communities. Every academy plays a part in reducing our environmental impact and inspiring young people to take positive action for the planet. On this page, you’ll find our school’s Climate Action Plan along with updates on projects and activities that showcase how we are putting sustainability into practice.

Academy Climate Action Plan

• Havelock Climate Action Plan download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineHavelock Climate Action Plan

Recycling

• Recycling is important as it helps us sustain our planet for future generations to come.
• Reusing materials that can be recycled prevents more waste going to landfill or incineration, which generates harmful greenhouse gases!
• Many recyclable materials, like plastic bottles cause harm for wildlife.
• Turtles swallow straws and this can cause them to suffocate or starve to death.
• Plastics that contain chemicals can leech into soil/water, causing chemicals to contaminate our soil, damaging our food supply

Havelock has dedicated recycling units throughout various areas of the school site for plastics, food waste and paper/card which are clearly labelled. The academy also partners with local authorities and organisations to recycle harder-to-recycle items like batteries, mobile phones, printer cartridges and scrap metal. We teach our students the importance of their efforts through the curriculum, assemblies and lessons they receive.

What we do

• Our computers are set on timers to automatically shut down at the end of the school day.
• Our heating has efficient timings and temperatures set throughout each day to minimise unnecessary energy use.
• Our catering teams use only fairtrade ingredients in their dishes and serves vegan and vegetarian options daily, including plant-based options.
• Our resources are managed effectively in house so there is minimal waste and spend.
• Our lighting is being switched to LED and internal/external lights are motion sensor.
• Our swimming pool has a cover to retain heat temperatures when not is use.
• Controlled water flow measures are in our toilets.
• Water fountains are around the academy for filling up water bottles.

Pre-loved uniforms

Second hand uniform is an option for our families, with an independent Facebook page being available (not run by the school) for swaps and sales of Havelock and other local school uniform.

At the academy we also gratefully accept donations of second-hand uniform as students leave or grow out of it. This is then available to students from Student Services and from our Pastoral Manager, Mrs Thornton. Please contact Mrs Thornton at the academy on tthornton@havelockacademy.co.uk or via main reception.

Projects & Activities

Coming up: 

Walk/Cycle/Carpool to Work Week

For Summer term 2026, we are encouraging all our students and staff to walk/cycle or carpool for an entire week during 18th to 22nd May 2026 to reduce carbon emissions, congestion and air pollution whilst also making the community a healthier and more pleasant place to live. 'Clean Air Day' also takes place on the 18th of June 2026 which which our campaign will also contribute to. You can support this by joining in anyway you can too!

Strand Roof Project

On Friday 22nd of May 2026,  a group of students from Year 7 to Year 9 will be attending Strand to help plant/design their roof top in a project partnership with Strand Primary Academy and Lincolnshire Co-Op. They have been really inventive and working hard to re-design the playground on the roof researching plants and how we can use old wellies as part of the roof project to save money and support sustainability by recycling items. If you have any wellies you would like to donate, please contact us!

Previous activities:

The Great Big School Clean

During Friday 13th March to Sunday 29th March 2026, our students took part in 'The Great Big School Clean'. This was a great way to get our students outdoors while making a visible difference in the community. Since the campaign began in 2016, more than 4.5 million bags of litter have been removed from streets, beaches, parks, and green spaces.  Great Big School Clean | Keep Britain Tidy.

Young people who spend time in natural environments, such as participating in litter-picks, have a more nature connectedness and will have significantly better mental health as a result! Making small environmental changes within our schools and communities can have a large, lasting impact for everyone. 

Switch Off Fortnight

The Switch Off Fortnight campaign ran from November 10th to November 23rd 2025. It's an annual energy-saving campaign for schools that empowers students to reduce energy use by switching off lights and appliances.

What is Switch Off Fortnight?

• It's a campaign that runs every November to help schools and students learn about energy use and saving energy.
• Schools commit to turning off unused appliances and lights for two weeks, aiming to reduce their energy consumption. 

Benefits

• Educational: Students learn about energy usage and its impact on the environment. 
• Practical: Schools can actively save energy and reduce their energy bills. 
• Environmental: Helps to tackle climate change by reducing energy waste

Our Impact

• During Switch Off Fortnight, we reduced our electricity usage by 3.4% compared to our average of the last year.
• Over the Christmas holidays, our electricity usage decreased by 9.9% compared to Christmas 2024/25. This is equivalent to 2,700kWh and saved 110kg CO2

Curriculum

Resource Management

Our Y11 students studied 'Resource Management' for their GCSE’s 2025-26 focusing on food miles, local food sourcing, organic produce and sustainable food supplies. Through the curriculum they are learning how food demand affects the UK’s carbon footprint, how new energy sources and biotechnology are changing the world and how this impacts the state of food security for the economy in years to come.

Living World

Mr Trussell led assemblies week commencing 11th May 2026 educating our students about the living world, food webs and food chains and threats to tropical rain forests. Our students developed an understanding of life cycles of living things, climate zones, ecosystems and the importance of protecting the environment and managing resources for sustainability.