Taking place from Monday 17th March until Friday 21st March, the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group and its Colleges are carrying out a variety of sustainable activities to mark Sustainability Week and the Association of Colleges' National Green Week 2025 - highlighting the importance of Colleges' roles in creating a sustainable future.
Find out what our students and staff have been up to over the week below.
Monday 17th March
Across the Colleges throughout the week, students in their tutor groups are getting involved in a range of sustainable crafts. Using recycled materials, students have the opportunity to sew, weave, paint and create a range of different things including upcycled bags made from recycled textiles to friendship bracelets made from recycled yarn. These activities show students the use you can get out of recycled materials as well as ways in which they can incorporate recycling in their own lives.
Animal Care students and tutors at Wakefield College have been hard at work planting some new trees on campus to promote its greenery. The new saplings have been planted by students outside of the Seacole Building, beginning their six year journey to become full size.
Read the latest edition of our sustainability newsletter
2024 was a pivotal milestone in our sustainability journey, with lots of activity taking place across the Group to embody sustainability in everything that we do.
You can read more about this in the latest edition of our sustainability newsletter, Footprint, including:
🌍 How our students and staff are taking action to tackle climate change.
🏢 The work we're doing with HI Group and Trident Utilities Ltd to make our estates more ecofriendly.
🟢 The expansion of our green skills programmes and how they're preparing learners for green jobs.
🤝 Our collaboration with former Association of Colleges' President and sustainability leader, Steve Frampton MBE and other organisations such as Let's Go Zero to create a more sustainable world.
Read the full edition, here.
Tuesday 18th March
Students and staff across Castleford College have also been enjoying the outdoors and have planted some new trees on the College's grounds to improve its green spaces.
Art & Design students launch ecofriendly exhibition at Selby Abbey
Selby College's Art & Design students are currently exhibiting their ecofriendly artwork at Selby Abbey as part of Sustainability Week. The students have created pieces by collecting and reusing waste materials, with Selby Abbey’s artists in residency, Mandy Keating and Helen Brook, providing them with feedback on their pieces.
Wednesday 19th March
On Wednesday, all of our Colleges went meat-free! Canteens swapped their meat products out for vegetarian options for one day to promote the sustainability of opting for meat-free meals - even for just one day out of the week.
Menu items on Meat-Free Wednesday included: vegan burgers, bombay potatoes and lentil dahl, vegan pizza, vegetable casserole, tomato pasta and even some vegan sausage rolls.
Thursday 20th March
Digital Industries students develop sustainable-themed games
Our Digital Industries students took part in a sustainability-themed Game Jam as part of the Department's recent careers week. Working either alone or within a team, students were able to create games, game assets and concepts that tied into any sustainable theme.
Overall, there were 34 entries, consisting of full games, game design documents, concept art and art assets. These were then voted on by students to pick winners using a variety of categories.
The winning game, Into the Fog, was based on the Horror genre with players having to navigate a spooky environment using an electric car that is running out of power while being chased by a petrol fuelled car.
There were also games about watering plants, reducing rubbish, combating pollution and even putting solar panels on people’s houses.
Alongside the games, there were lots of artistic creations that spread across all themes of sustainability.
You can see and play all the entries, here.
Carpentry & Joinery students build their own bird boxes
Castleford College's Carpentry & Joinery students have been busy building their very own bird boxes. This was a great way for our students to put their joinery skills to the test, whilst promoting sustainability and wildlife conservation.
Some of the bird boxes were donated to local nurseries and primary schools in the area and some made great homemade gifts, with one students’ dad proudly hanging it at his allotment.
Learn more about the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group's commitment to Sustainability.