What's it all about?

Eco schools is a great way to make sustainable development a part of the life and ethos of your school. Designed to fit ito the curriculum, it's an award scheme that gets everyone in the school community involved in making the school environment better.

 

What is Eco Schools?

Eco Schools is much more than an environmental management system for schools. It is a programme for promoting environmental awareness in a way that links to many curriculum subjects, including citizenship, personal, social and health education (PSHE) and education for sustainable development. It is also an award scheme that will raise the profile of your school in the wider community.

The Eco Schools process is holistic. It works by involving the whole school (pupils, teachers, non-teaching staff and governors) together with members of the local community (parents, the local authority, the media and local businesses). It will encourage teamwork and help to create a shared understanding of what it takes to run a school in a way that respects and enhances the environment.

Eco Schools offers your school:

·  an opportunity to make environmental issues a part of the life of the school

·  an opportunity to help develop young people's decision-making skills

·  curriculum materials and ideas for projects and events

·  access to a network of support agencies

·  links with other schools in the UK and Europe

·  a prestigious award

·  opportunities for local and national publicity

·  potential for financial savings.

It requires:

·  the support of the headteacher and governors

·  a willingness to involve pupils in decision-making and action at every stage

·  active involvement of staff and the wider school community

·  a willingness to take action to instigate long-term change.

 

How does Eco Schools work?

The Eco Schools programme involves three main stages:

1. implementing the seven elements of the process
2. applying for one of the three Eco Schools awards - a bronze-level award, a silver-level award or a Green Flag - depending on how much you have achieved
3. renewing your award every two years

 

The Eco Schools process

The structure of the Eco Schools process is made up of seven elements. You must have gone some way towards implementing all of them before applying for an award.

The seven elements are as follows:

1. setting up an Eco-Committee to take the programme forward
2. carrying out an environmental review to identify problem areas
3. creating and carrying out an action plan to set environmental targets and working towards achieving them
4. monitoring and evaluating your progress in working towards your targets
5. integrating your environmental activities with the school's curriculum
6. involving the whole school and the wider community in your environmental activities, making sure you are generating regular publicity
7. creating an Eco-Code that sets out the school's aims and mission.

 

What are the benefits?

Greater awareness and respect for the environment, cash savings on bills and better links with the local community are just some of the benefits of becoming an Eco School. But don’t take our word for it. Here’s what a few teachers and a pupil have to say about their experience of the Eco Schools scheme.

 

Applying for an Eco Schools award

Once you have implemented the seven elements of the Eco Schools process you can apply for an Eco Schools award. There are three levels of award:

• bronze award
• silver award
• Green Flag

You can apply for any one of these levels depending on how much you feel your school has achieved. The process section contains details of the criteria used to judge what level of award a school should be granted. The criteria will help to give you an idea of what stage your school has reached and what level of award you could apply for.

 

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ECO-SCHOOLS

Please log onto http://www.eco-schools.org.uk