The Sustainability Festival (SustFest) is an annual festival of sustainability events across St Albans, Harpenden and the villages. Each year, it features a SustFest Schools Week – schools, children’s and youth groups register to take part by running an event or activity of their choice.
Activities range from practical activities, such as tree planting or restoring school ponds, to assemblies and pupil conferences, for example about reducing plastic. Check out our resources below including ideas, assemblies, activities and ideas from previous years too.
Activities and Ideas for SustFest
Themes of waste, nature, food, justice… What will you do with your students for the next SustFest Schools Week?
Participants from previous years
So many schools get involved each year – take a look here for a list of those schools that have taken part.
Inspiration from previous years
Get inspired from previous years’ SustFest activities in schools across St Albans district!
Ideas for SustFest Schools/Youth Activities
A whole week or a few young people on one activity – it’s up to you how much you do for SustFest Schools Week but we’d love to have you on board each year!
Hold an enrichment day/week around….
- appreciating and protecting nature
- reduce / reuse / recycle
- climate change and climate justice
Debate and Discuss
- get the students to take the lead on what is important to them – student conferences, debates, strategy meetings and assemblies are all appropriate for older students to run
Grow/Eat Food
- Ask parents to come in and dig over veg beds ready for planting
- plant seeds in newspaper pots
- take a group of children to help at Incredible Edible St Albans community food growing plots.
- build bug hotels
- plant a tree
- explore vegan cookery
- learn about sustainable fish
Energy
- monitor lights and interactive whiteboards to see if they are switched off
- launch a fundraising campaign for solar panels on your roof
- mount an anti-idling campaign aimed at parents for drop-off and pick-up
Nature
- explore a local park or nature area and find nature on your doorstep
- go on a bug hunt
- make pictures out of sticks and leaves
- leaf-rubbing
- pond-dipping
- bird-watching
Waste
- have a “waste free lunch” challenge and try to cut food waste for the week
- do a litter pick
- build a greenhouse out of plastic bottles
- mount a campaign to use both sides of paper in school
- read books on eco-subjects including Duffy the Sea Turtle or Hunter’s Icy Adventure and other books in the Wild Tribe series to learn about plastics and marine life
Participants from previous years
- 19th Harpenden Brownies
- 19th Harpenden Rainbows
- The Abbey C ofE Voluntary Aided Primary School
- Aboyne Lodge
- Alban City School
- Aldwickbury School
- Beaumont School
- Bernards Heath Infant and Nursery School
- Bernards Heath Junior School
- Bowmans Green Primary School
- Camp Primary School
- Crabtree Infants’ School
- Crabtree Junior School
- Cunningham Hill Infants
- Fleetville Infant & Nursery School
- Fleetville Junior School
- Garden Fields Primary School
- Harpenden Academy
- Heathlands School
- High Beeches Primary School
- Killigrew School
- Links Academy
- Loreto College
- Mandeville Primary School
- Maple School
- Margaret Wix School
- Mount Pleasant Lane Primary School
- Oakwood Primary School
- Old London Road Pre-School
- Prae Wood Primary School
- Ss Alban and Stephen Infant and Nursery School
- St Albans District Scouts
- St Albans District Woodcraft Folk
- St Albans Girls ‘ School
- St Albans High School for Girls
- St John Fisher Catholic Primary School
- St Michael’s C of E VA Primary School
- St Peter’s School
- Samuel Ryder Academy
- Sandringham School
- Sir John Lawes School
- The Grove Infants and Nursery School
- The Lea Primary School
- Townsend C of E School
- Verulam School
- Wheatfields Infants and Nursery School
- Wood End School
Inspiration from previous years
Read all about SustFest Schools Week 2024
We were delighted that 18 St Albans District schools took part in SustFest Schools Week 10th-14th June 2024. In all, several thousand primary and secondary school children participated by enjoying a huge variety of sustainability activities, from a minibeast world to a toy swap.
Read all about SustFest Schools Week 2023
In 2023, young people in St Albans, Harpenden and the villages threw themselves into eco activities for SustFest Schools Week. From water-saving campaigns to litter picks, wild garden renovation to book swaps, there were a huge variety of sustainable activities.
Read all about SustFest Schools Week 2022
In 2022, young people in St Albans, Harpenden and the villages threw themselves into eco activities for Sustainable Schools Week. From assemblies to beetle banks, seed planting to debates, there were a huge variety of sustainable activities. Young people from primary and secondary schools as well as Guiding, Scouting and Woodcraft Folk got involved.
