My Green School
5
3. Context 3.1. Introducing the school This research was carried out in Sharrow School, located in an inner-city suburb of Sheffield. The community here is culturally and ethnically diverse. This is reflected in the 2010 Ofsted report about the school: ‘Nine out of ten pupils are from minority ethnic groups, of whom pupils with Pakistani background are by far the largest group. The overwhelming majority of pupils speak a language other than English at home. Currently, 35 different languages are spoken’ (Ofsted 2010, pg. 3). The school was built in 2006 and incorporates a children’s centre and can therefore offer learning opportunities for children aged from 3 months to 11 years. The school’s website states that the building has been designed to support the delivery of a ‘creative and exciting curriculum’. One of the distinctive features of the school is its green roof. Whilst the website states that the ‘aim of the green roof was to provide added value by assisting the control of storm water, humidity, noise, heat and pollution’ and highlights the visual impact and high biodiversity value of the roof, little is made of how this and other green spaces are used as learning resources at the school. However, it is clear that these spaces are valued by teachers, particularly as they perceive the majority of children’s experiences outside of school are situated within an urban environment. There will be very few children in here whose parents will say, ‘let’s go and walk in the country’, ‘let’s go to the park’, ‘let’s go and catch some fish in the pond, ‘ let’s go to the market’, ‘let’s go and have a look and see what the carousel’s doing at the funfair’. (Teacher, Year 5). ‘[The green spaces are valuable] for getting children to learn about the importance of, you know, being green and look after the environment ... and for them to sort of see that they’re part of nature... It’s not something that’s ... [part] ... of their normal daily life... It’s not part of where they live’ (Year 5 teacher).