What is an Eco School?
•The Government in England wants every school to be a sustainable school by 2020. Eco-Schools is an international award programme that guides schools on their sustainable journey, providing a framework to help embed these principles into the heart of school life.
•Eco-Schools is one of five environmental education programmes run internationally by the Foundation for Environmental Education.(FEE). Children are the driving force behind Eco-Schools – they lead the eco-committee and help carry out an audit to assess the environmental performance of their school. Through consultation with the rest of the school and the wider community it is the pupils that decide which environmental themes they want to address and how they are going to do it.
• Schools work towards gaining one of three awards – Bronze, Silver and the prestigious Green Flag award. Bronze and Silver are both self accredited and Green Flag is externally assessed by Keep Britain Tidy.
Useful Websites
General Eco: http://www.ecofriendlykids.co.uk/SchoolCategory.html
Climate change: http://apps.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening/default.aspa
Wildlife: http://www.rspb.org.uk/youth/learn/waa/index.asp
Plants and the natural world: http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/download/autumn/
Climate and Environment: www.christianaid.co.uk
Plants and the natural world: http://www.greatplanthunt.org/home