Award for Ladies’ College research
A RESEARCH project that helped reduce The Ladies’ College’s carbon footprint has seen the school win a special award for community impact from the Institute for Research in Schools.
The award from Iris acknowledged the work of the college as a whole, with special recognition for head of science Dr Karen Marshall.
Dr Marshall said she was thrilled with the college’s achievement.
‘This award highlights the fantastic research our students undertook in 2019, where they created a project identifying the school’s carbon footprint,’ she said.
‘Through this project, the girls calculated how many solar panels would fit on the roof of the school and the energy it could provide.
‘Three years later, the school roof is covered with solar panels and there are more bikes being brought to school than before. I’m incredibly proud.’
The Ladies’ College is now in its third year of unique research projects, with the support of the Institute for Research in Schools. Their current research initiative is to take more than 50% of food waste from the canteens into its own wormery, as well as creating a plan of action to plant more trees and shrubs for shade and look at the effect that trees have on reducing pollution from the roads.
The Ladies’ College principal Daniele Harford-Fox said: ‘This pioneering research had no set answers like the experiments in the curriculum, and it shows the difference that young people can make with their research.’
