Eco-Schools and Every Child Matters

Every Child Matters (ECM) contains key principles for all schools to ensure every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, has the support they need to be healthy; stay safe; enjoy and achieve; make a positive contribution; and achieve economic well-being.

Every council in England is currently working with its partners, through children’s trusts, to find out what works best for children and young people in its area and act on it. Eco-Schools, through our seven-step process, Nine topics and Bronze, Silver and Green Flag award levels, can help councils deliver these critical outcomes as we prepare young people to take an active role in finding solutions to local issues while addressing broader global problems.

How the Eco-Schools themes and the ECM principles could link together:

• Be healthy: e.g. school travel plans and promotion of cycling/walking; developing school grounds and growing fruit/vegetables; composting; developing physical play areas; healthy eating.
   
• Stay safe: e.g. school travel plans; learning about road safety and cycling proficiency; learning about safe use of pesticides/fertilisers/tools in school grounds and working safely around water.
   
• Enjoy and achieve: e.g. gaining lifelong skills through a range of enjoyable activities such as taking meter readings, growing food, recycling, learning about fair trade; international linking with other Eco-Schools.
   
• Make a positive contribution: e.g. implementing activities to achieve Eco-Schools accreditation. Using knowledge and skills developed through Eco-Schools to make informed choices and decisions i.e. reducing impact on environment; minimising contributions towards climate change; contributing to worthwhile activities; sustainable purchasing; minimising waste; managing credits from school recycling schemes; selling produce grown at school; and managing budgets.
   
• Achieve economic well-being: e.g. links between fuel, poverty, ill health and energy efficiency awareness; developing skills to enable pupils to lead more sustainable lives; use of school grounds to develop vocational skills; growing and selling produce (hidden skills of accounting, profit & loss); fundraising; organising school/local events.