The Eco Schools programme is an international programme designed to encourage whole-school action for the environment. All schools from nursery to secondary are encouraged to take part; whatever their size, type or location. Litter is one of the topics covered by the programme and it is hoped that schools working towards an eco school award will be able to use the information on this website to help them take action on litter at school.
In the Falkirk Council area the majority of schools are already registered and many are working their way through the three award levels: Bronze, Silver and Green Flag. Bronze and silver awards are based on school self assessment either on-line or by post/fax.
To achieve the Green Flag the school must fill out an application form and provide basic information about their activities and this is followed by a school visit from the eco schools assessors. The Green Flag award is valid for 2 years after which the school must reapply and be reassessed. Once your school has achieved 4 Green Flags it becomes a permanent Green flag school and no longer requires reassessment.
All schools receive a cheque for £250 when they achieve their first award (which can be bronze, silver or Green Flag).
The Eco Schools handbook, which is supplied free to all registered schools, provides detailed information about the programme and the criteria to be met for each award. The seven elements of the Eco Schools process are summarised below:
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Eco-Committee – the driving force of the eco schools programme. Although it is mainly made up of pupils; adults from the school and where possible, community should also take part.
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The environmental review – this is an assessment of the current environmental status of the school to help make decisions about what action to take.
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The action plan – a timetabled series of targets based on the outcomes of the environmental review. As far as possible it should be linked to some curriculum work.
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Monitoring action and progress – measuring how well you are doing in achieving the environmental improvements that have been planned. Changes may have to be made to the action plan as a result of your evaluation.
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Linking to the curriculum – there are lots of opportunities for linking ‘eco schools’ activities to the Scottish curriculum.
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Involving the whole school and the wider community – it is important that the whole school is involved in the eco schools programme and wherever possible links are made with the wider community.
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The Eco-Code – this is the school’s environmental mission statement. It might take the form of a poem, song or simple phrase.
The Eco Schools programme outlines eight environmental areas in which you can work. Schools are not expected to work in all of the areas at once – start off with just two or three topics or as much as you can realistically manage. The environmental review will help you to decide which should be the target areas for your school. The eight topics are: Litter, Waste minimisation, Energy, Water, Transport, Health and well-being, Biodiversity and finally School grounds.
Of these only Litter is a compulsory topic when you are going for your Green Flag because of the legal obligations on schools to keep their grounds litter free.
If you are already taking action on litter in your school you might want to get involved in the Eco Schools programme as you are probably already well on the way to a bronze award without even realising it!
Alternatively if you are taking part in Eco Schools but have not taken action on litter yet, then use the information on this website to help plan some litter activities. Remember schools cannot achieve Green Flag if their grounds are littered, regardless of all of the other great work that they are doing.
For more information about Eco Schools in Scotland contact www.ecoschoolsscotland.org| or call 01786 468234