Are these the greenest schools in the world?
07 April 2011
The country’s first super-green Ambassador schools have been announced today by Eco-Schools England.
St Edward’s School in Rochdale, Meadows First School in Bromsgrove and Freemantle School in Southampton are now ambassadors for the Eco-Schools programme in England that has more than 15,000 Eco-Schools, the most in the world.
The free global programme helps almost 40,000 schools to think and act sustainably, from America to China, and in England more than 60% of all schools are working towards this goal.
The programme assesses a school’s sustainable credentials across nine areas; litter, energy, water, waste, transport, healthy living, schools grounds, biodiversity and global perspective. Schools are then required to undertake projects that help them achieve awards ranging from the initial bronze award to the prestigious Green Flag award.
Ambassador schools are the programme’s shining success stories and will undertake the practical role of sharing best practice with other schools in their area. They embody the ideal of what a green school should look and feel like and have impressed experts who view them as world-class examples of sustainable schools.
At St Edward’s School, there has been a clear link between improvements in the school’s performance and it’s commitment to being a green school. Free-roaming micro-pigs, lunches from the school vegetable patch and solar panels linked to the national grid are just a few examples of how the school community has embraced the Eco-Schools ethos.
Similarly in Bromsgrove, Meadow’s First have worked alongside their local authority to influence and galvanise support form their local area. This has enabled the school to achieve enhanced Healthy School status as a result of excellent healthy living projects.
In Southampton, the mantra at Freemantle Infant school is ‘small eco steps – big eco difference’ and it is helping them to become the first retro fit zero carbon school in the country.
Andrew Suter Eco-Schools programme manager said: “These ambassador schools are evidence that schools, pupils and their families are at the heart of making green changes in our communities.
“Their spectacular work and their commitment to becoming sustainable is an example to us all and they should be incredibly proud of their successes.”
Jim Dobbin MP for Heywood and Middleton said: “As an MP I am well aware of the effort St Edward’s has put into being an environmentally conscious school. I am not surprised they have been awarded Eco-Schools Ambassador status and congratulate the pupils and teachers on this great success.”
Rochdale Borough Council’s Executive Director for Children’s Services, Cheryl Eastwood said:
“St Edward’s School is leading the way to a cleaner, greener and sustainable future for the borough and I am immensely proud of the extraordinary range of work pupils, teachers and parents do in school and in their community. The Keep Britain Tidy Eco-School Ambassador Award is a wonderful achievement and recognition that are the best in the country at teaching future generations to become guardians of this precious world we share.”
Find out more about the Eco-Schools programme