Mission and values

Mission:

Our mission is to address the global environmental crisis by raising awareness and taking action, and to reduce ASL’s ecological footprint by implementing environmentally-friendly initiatives throughout the community.

Vision:

We envision ASL as an environmental leader whose members share an eco-friendly mindset and are actively creating and advocating for a more sustainable community and world.

Student organizations

ASL has three student organizations that aim to create a greener community: the high school Sustainability Council, the middle school Eco-committee, and the lower school Change Makers. The three groups collaborate on a number of all-school projects, including Earth Hour and Earth Week, and are working toward earning the Green Flag award from Eco-schools.

The Sustainability Council (SusCo) mission is “to reduce ASL’s ecological footprint by raising awareness in the community and implementing environmentally friendly initiatives.” Student representatives meet weekly to plan monthly events, Earth Week and various initiatives to reduce ASL’s ecological footprint. They work with parents, faculty and staff to run the annual Swap, conduct litter walks, and bring guest speakers to ASL. In 2017, SusCo sponsored a panel of London sustainable fashion designers followed by an evening screening of The True Cost sparking conversation throughout the School. In 2018, Hendrikus van Hensbergen and Laura Kravac from Action for Conservation spoke to middle and high school students about the power of the student voice during Earth Week.

In addition to working on projects with other divisions, the middle school Eco-committee has been focusing on waste in the Commons, from the school’s cafeteria. Following discussions with administration, the Commons now has an improved system for recycling and composting food waste. During the spring, the Eco-committee hosted a healthy living week to promote an awareness of our daily impact on individual health and the environmental health of our community. Students also worked with SusCo to bring recycling to last year’s Global Festival.

In the Lower School, Change Makers and Wild are two popular after-school activity options for students. Students in the Change Makers group are developing sustainable mindsets by conducting an environmental review of ASL and initiating activities such as litter walks. Through unstructured, outdoor play on Hampstead Heath, Wild helps to cultivate a connection to and appreciation of nature in students. In addition to these initiatives, many classes in the Lower School have a student eco warrior to ensure that everyone recycles and turns off lights.

The American School in London’s maintenance and facilities team regularly review best practices in sustainability. During the planning stages of any new project, we consider:

• Conservation of energy and water
• Avoiding the use of pollutants and potential pollutants
• Taking steps to minimize the production of waste
• Protecting plants and wildlife
• Meeting local needs while respecting people and their environment

Electricity

Employees are asked to switch off lights and/or equipment when not needed. Evening housekeepers turn off lights once finished for the night. Other guidelines include:

• Reducing energy consumption by disabling screensavers (use dimming function or turn screen off).
• Turn down monitor brightness setting.
• Leave the lights off during the day if there is enough natural light.
• Turn off equipment when not in use.
• Keep doors and windows in air conditioned rooms closed when the air conditioning is on. Refrain from covering thermostats or having a heat source next to the thermostat.

Lighting

Our team is in the process of replacing light systems with energy efficient LEDs on campus.

Switching off

During holidays or school closures, a device and equipment shutdown reminder is distributed to employees.

Travel

The American School in London works closely with the City of Westminster to encourage our employees and students to reduce our carbon footprint by following the below travel hierarchy;

• Walking
• Cycling and the cycle-to-work scheme (storage facilities are available on campus)
• TFL (including the season ticket loan scheme)
• School bus
• Car pool
• Private car

The American School in London is based in Westminster. Westminster City Council and Veolia are our waste collection providers.

Environmental and sustainability objectives

To reduce the School’s carbon footprint, pollution emissions and minimize energy ASL’s caterers will be required, where possible, to purchase produce from local or regional sources within the UK and promote seasonal produce. The caterers will be expected to select suppliers with a commitment to sustainability, in particular, suppliers seeking to reduce wasteful packaging.

ASL’s caterers will also be required to monitor and reduce, where possible, energy consumption in their cooking processes. They will be expected to continuously improve environmental performance based on targets and objectives by seeking to reduce packaging required in selling products and by ensuring that all such packaging and disposables are from a sustainable source.

ASL’s caterers will also be required to monitor and reduce, where possible, the waste generated by their food processes and to assist ASL in disposing of all waste in an environmentally appropriate way.

Where products cannot be sourced locally, ASL’s suppliers are required to be proactive in maintaining a culture of responsible environmental awareness and global citizenship through the purchase of produce independently accredited in high standards of sustainability and fair trade.

ASL’s caterers will be expected to publish and monitor their own Corporate Social Responsibility goals.