Sustainability - The Green Vale School

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About
Introducing Green Vale
We are a vast campus abuzz with engaged students interacting comfortably with passionate adults.
Admissions
Getting acquainted with Green Vale
This website is just one of many ways to learn about GVS. Our Admissions team is here to help your family get to know our school and our spirit.
PN - 8 Experience
Institutionally committed to childhood and early adolescence
The Pre-Nursery through 8th Grade age spectrum fosters an intimate community where growth is both slow and magically transformative.
Academics
In a joy-filled environment, children rise easily to intellectual challenge.
Success, failure and laughter are part of life and part of Green Vale. Our students feel both supported and inspired, allowing for high levels of instructional content and achievement.
Arts and Athletics
To sing, sculpt, and score a goal: all in a day’s work
At Green Vale, we are all creative artists, musicians and multi-sport athletes. Latent talent is often revealed, but the real goal is confidence, empathy and life-long appreciation gained through exposure and participation.
Life at GVS
Within the school day and beyond, this is an active community.
Students, parents, and teachers collaborate to fill the calendar with events and activities suited to the needs and interests of Green Vale and the larger community.
Support
Learn how the Green Vale community sticks together
Through parent and alumni outreach, volunteer efforts, fundraising, and news-sharing, Green Vale supports —and is supported by —the people it connects.

About
Introducing Green Vale
We are a vast campus abuzz with engaged students interacting comfortably with passionate adults.
Admissions
Getting acquainted with Green Vale
This website is just one of many ways to learn about GVS. Our Admissions team is here to help your family get to know our school and our spirit.
PN - 8 Experience
Institutionally committed to childhood and early adolescence
The Pre-Nursery through 8th Grade age spectrum fosters an intimate community where growth is both slow and magically transformative.
Academics
In a joy-filled environment, children rise easily to intellectual challenge.
Success, failure and laughter are part of life and part of Green Vale. Our students feel both supported and inspired, allowing for high levels of instructional content and achievement.
Arts and Athletics
To sing, sculpt, and score a goal: all in a day’s work
At Green Vale, we are all creative artists, musicians and multi-sport athletes. Latent talent is often revealed, but the real goal is confidence, empathy and life-long appreciation gained through exposure and participation.
Life at GVS
Within the school day and beyond, this is an active community.
Students, parents, and teachers collaborate to fill the calendar with events and activities suited to the needs and interests of Green Vale and the larger community.
Support
Learn how the Green Vale community sticks together
Through parent and alumni outreach, volunteer efforts, fundraising, and news-sharing, Green Vale supports —and is supported by —the people it connects.

The “Green” Vale School.

Green Vale takes seriously a self-imposed commitment to promoting sustainability in the world and within the School community. This is achieved through 1) educational programs built into our academic curriculum; 2) behavioral and structural programs deployed throughout our campus, and 3) supporting our own and others’ special events. A passionate collective of faculty members and student leaders stewards, polices, and celebrates large initiatives and small gestures, wherever undertaken.

Educational Programs

Earth Day (all-school, full-day curriculum of hands-on environmental learning and service)
Student Sustainability Club
Nature-based field trips
Campus tree-tagging initiative (counting, identifying species and labeling)
Milkweed planting to attract butterflies for Pre-K chrysalis study
Effort to quantify Green Vale’s carbon footprint
Meatless Monday lunch

Behavioral & Structural Initiatives

The entire campus was converted from fuel oil to natural gas heating
Project Turn Out the Lights (if leaving a room for 10+ minutes)
New energy efficient windows in Lower School building
5th Grade “Recycling Rangers”
Restoring the campus apple orchard to historic abundance and vitality
All community members expected to pick up litter whenever possible
Unplug chargers, shut down computers
Implementing a virtual server infrastructure, reducing the number of servers on campus from 12 to 4.
Interior lighting has all transitioned to compact fluorescent bulbs or high-efficiency fluorescent tubes. Program to convert all bulbs to LED’s is underway.
Cardboard-only recycling dumpster
Selection of a carting contractor that sorts and recycles all trash
Most of the campus is controlled by an automated Building Management System (BMS)

Supporting Wider Events

Earth Hour participation