Sustainable Hanford
We encourage staff and girls to share some responsibility for improving sustainability at Hanford.
We recognise that all businesses, schools and organisations must work to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, material and energy consumption while minimising their effect on the environment. Hanford Prep bears an additional responsibility when meeting these challenges – the direct impact climate change will have on the future of girls.
A Sustainable Education
Most Hanford girls have their own garden at school and are taught how to make compost, grow their own food, keep animals, plant and manage young trees, make their own clothes, re-use materials for art projects and appreciate the rural environment around them with activities such as bushcraft, camping, bird watching, making dens etc on site. This cuts down on using transport and new resources and encourages creative problem solving.
Hanford has 45 acres of grounds comprising orchards, woodlands, fields, walled gardens, playing pitches and parking areas as well as the buildings.
Hedgehogs, Buzzards, Kestrels, Flycatchers are all known to breed in the grounds showing that there is a rich biodiversity.
Hanford's working Kitchen Garden supplies much of the fresh produce for the table throughout the academic year. The produce is either used immediately or harvested, stored and preserved for use later. Vegetable peelings are composted immediately and Food Waste from the kitchen is taken by the Council each week. The Caterer constantly manages waste and seeks to cut down by monitoring food quantities and what the girls eat.
Sustainability at Hanford is global, local and personal.
Local Initiatives
As a school we have always chosen to work with local partners whenever possible to keep our food miles low. Our kitchen sources meat and dairy from local suppliers: Prime Cuts butchers in Shaftesbury, free-range eggs from Foots and dairy produce and vegetables from Arthur David.
“We do not inherit the earth we borrow it from our children”
Being a country school, we are aware of the many opportunities we can make in our small corner of Dorset. However, the greatest contribution we can make to sustainability is raise generation of children who can continue to make a difference throughout their lives.
The Girls
We encourage girls to share some the responsibility for improving sustainability at Hanford Prep via the Green Initiative Committee, aka Green Giants.
Hanford Prep's Committees have always been an important part of school life. Committees bring girls together, teaching them to cooperate and take ownership. Joining a Riding, Gardening or Games Committee is an empowering and enjoyable experience for the girls.
The Green Initiatives Committee puts forward ideas using blue and yellow ‘post its’.
Their objectives are mainly centred around the school its house, grounds and gardens.
Teaching Girls Imagination
They are tasked with proposing changes the school can make to improve sustainability.
This teaches the girls to use their ears, eyes and imagination to identify problems and find solutions. They also must encourage their peers to join in, making them initiators and advocates for change.
For example, they are currently reporting on specific areas in the school where water or energy is being wasted unnecessarily through dripping taps and windows that don’t shut effectively.
Making sustainable improvements, no matter how small, instils in girls an enduring awareness of sustainability and climate change. It empowers them to believe they too can make a difference and hopefully will continue to do so for the rest of their lives.
The House
The building at Hanford Prep is an impressive 17th century Jacobean style Italian inspired quadrangular building, originally centred around an open courtyard (mercifully now covered over).
It faces northeast and is built in sandstone. Like most buildings of its age and construction it was built to a different standard of insulation. This doesn’t mean it can’t be improved but limits need to be recognised.
While the building itself is not necessarily inclined to sustainability its inhabitants can be taught to make changes. Simple energy consumption can be reduced by a commitment to turning off lights, laptops, copiers when not in use. Keeping exterior doors closed and using shutters in the event of colder days.
The office is paperless, any paper and card used is recycled or reused creatively by the girls. For example, old cardboard now replaces canvas in some art lessons.
Mindful Cleaning & Preservation
The house is Grade II listed and all repairs are made in accordance with English Heritage conservation guidelines.
However, where possible building materials are reclaimed, repurposed, or reused. Our head of maintenance, Robert, has a traditional workshop in daily use.
The house is kept clean and tidy exclusively with the use of Eco products, reducing the environmental impact of harsh or toxic chemicals. The grounds are adjacent to the river Stour.
The school is mindful of the content of products used to clean and fertilise and their impact.
The Garden
Hanford Prep with its 45 of grounds comprising orchards, fields, walled kitchen garden and stables provides many opportunities for sustainability.
Some of which were in use well before the issue of climate change became so pressing.
Wildflowers grow along borders of paths and in the walled garden to support pollinators and provides cover and habitat for small mammals. The grounds staff grow plants from our own seeds and propagate from cuttings. The variety of plants contributes improve biodiversity in the grounds and garden. Girls are encouraged to learn valuable gardening and horticulture skills for life.
Being a country school, we are aware of the many opportunities we can make in our small corner of Dorset.
However, the greatest contribution we can make to sustainability is raise generation of children who can continue to make a difference throughout their lives.
Local Initiatives
As a school we have always chosen to work with local partners whenever possible to keep our food miles low.
Our kitchen sources meat and dairy from local suppliers: Prime Cuts butchers in Shaftesbury, free-range eggs from Foots and dairy produce and vegetables from Arthur David.
Where possible we take girls on walks or bring entertainment into Hanford rather than endless bus journeys for trips and outings.
If we do take girls out the visits are often to local events and attractions, of which there are many in Dorset.
“We do not inherit the earth we borrow it from our children”
Being a country school, we are aware of the many opportunities we can make in our small corner of Dorset. However, the greatest contribution we can make to sustainability is raise generation of children who can continue to make a difference throughout their lives.
Where Next?
