Monkton Wellbeing & Sustainability Day 2023

Staff and pupils at our Senior School recently took part in an informative and interactive day full of sustainability and wellbeing practices.

The morning focused on wellbeing at Monkton and beyond, with a variety of activities taking place, before an afternoon of discovering how as departments and individuals we can best model sustainable practices for ourselves and our future. 

As part of the morning’s wellbeing sessions, students had the opportunity to hear from two inspiring speakers in our Senior School chapel from Iain Mahoney and Patrick Foster. Both spoke of their personal journeys with addiction and how they had needed to talk and seek help previously but, regretfully, hadn’t done so. They also spoke about prioritising their mental health and wellbeing as part of their recovery. The feedback from students has been incredibly positive, with many fruitful conversations in response to what they heard, truly putting thought into action. In addition, there were a whole host of activities from a workshop with a sleep specialist, to organisational life hacks, wheelchair basketball to bread making and many more! 

The afternoon was launched by our guest speaker Amelia Twine who is the founder and director of Sustainable Fashion Week. Sustainability Day focused on hope and action, knowing the planet is in a state and that the science is overwhelming about the impact of climate change and the causes of biodiversity loss. It was important that the afternoon wasn’t full of doom and gloom, but rather a foundation of informative and impactful discussions to continue the global conversation. The afternoon was all about how we are able to help students get ready for a changing world as we, globally, need to take action to live in more sustainable ways. The UN Sustainable Development Goals offer a road map to all global citizens to be actioned by 2030 and this is a key target that members of the United Nations are working towards.

We were able to summarise what school is doing as a whole and share the positive impact that Monktonians are already having:

We have had an energy contract for 3 years now that is 100% renewable, our waste and recycling contract is zero to landfill, catering source food locally and ethically and have a low kitchen food waste rating. We have got rid of most single use plastics and have a carbon reduction plan underway, as well as a grounds master plan with a tree planting strategy.

University courses are shifting. There is a large skills gap in the present workforce, a need for entrepreneurship and students need to be climate and biodiversity literate. In small groups they recorded their own carbon footprint, and then participated in a walking tour around 16 information points covering a broad range of sustainable issues. The afternoon gave them time to pause, reflect and converse in the groups to help them think through and consider a number of the issues.

Just some of the topics at each checkpoint of the ‘Sustainability Scavenger Hunt’ included:

• Talks on business, personal development and economical impact

• Workshops with sleep specialists

• Inspiring chapel talks on mental health and the impacts of our decisions from guest speakers

• Reflecting on our own consumption habits, acts of kindness and mindfulness journaling.

• One to one coaching sessions

• The impact of construction, fashion and transport industries

• Reducing waste, climate change and exploring ecosystems

Take a look at some of the images below from the day’s events, or head over to our instagram page for a short video of the activities that took place.