SUSTAINABILITY
ECO SCHOOLS
What do we mean by Sustainable?
Sustainable development is a way of thinking about how we organise
our lives and work – including our education system – so that we don’t
destroy our most precious resource, the planet.
Sustainable development means inspiring people in all parts of the
world to find solutions that improve their quality of life without storing
up problems for the future, or impacting unfairly on other people’s lives.
It must be much more than recycling bottles or giving money to charity.
It is about thinking and working in a profoundly different way.
What is a sustainable school?
The Government would like every school to be a sustainable school by
2020. A sustainable school prepares young people for a lifetime of
sustainable living, through its teaching, its fabric and its day-to-day
practices. It is guided by a commitment to care:
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for oneself;
for each other (across cultures, distances and generations); and
for the environment itself (far and near).
Sustainable development can build coherence among a range of
initiatives and school practices. It offers schools a bigger picture in
which to join up their work on a range of policies and initiatives, such
as Every Child Matters, school travel planning, healthy living, school
food, extended services, citizenship and learning outside the
classroom.
Many schools recognise the potential of sustainable development to
transform the experiences and outcomes of pupils whilst improving the
environmental performance of the school and contributing to
sustainable communities.
Above all, sustainable schools contribute to sustainable development.
They make a positive effort to demonstrate responsible practices for
their young people and communities, and engage them in learning
about the issues and potential responses.
What are the Eight Gateways? (Eco schools has nine!!)
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Water
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Biodiversity
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Energy
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Global Perspectives
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Healthy Living
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Litter
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School Grounds
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Transport
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Waste
The ‘doorways’ (sustainability themes), of which there are eight, are
discrete entry points or places where schools can establish or develop
their sustainability practices. Each of the doorways draws its inspiration
from a range of Government policies concerning sustainable
development and quality of life. There are opportunities and
recommendations for schools in relation to each of the doorways.
You can search the resources listed within this website by doorway
theme and you will come across the doorways in other resources and
guidance relating to sustainable schools, from both the DCSF and
other organisations. Introductory guidance and top tips relating to the
eight doorways can be found on the following website:
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/sustainableschools/about/about.cfm?leve
lselected=3&id=3
If you look at the following video – it will give more information:
http://www.eco-schools.org.uk/getting-started/
BRONZE AWARD
Bronze criteria
1.
The school has identified an Action Team which has met on at least two
occasions.
2.
The Action Team has completed a formal or informal Environmental
Review.
3.
The Action Team has produced a basic Action Plan and shared the plan
with the rest of the school community.
4.
The Action Team can identify progress towards achieving elements of the
Action Plan.
5.
The school can indicate that some environmental issues have been
covered within curriculum work.
6.
The school has a prominent, designated noticeboard, web pages or
newsletter which details Eco-Schools activities.
WHAT ARE THE GATEWAYS
For more details information, go onto the website
http://www.eco-schools.org.uk/nine-topics/
WATER
Water is a crucial aspect of our lives. We use it not just for drinking and washing
but also for industry, agriculture and making almost any kind of product, from
hamburgers and tin cans to newspapers and cars.
Our demand for water has grown to the point that the natural water cycle can no
longer keep up. Pollution, mainly caused by sewage leaks and chemical
discharges, has made clean water a rare and valuable commodity.
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Less than 2% of the world’s water supply is fresh water.
Taking showers rather than baths would save enough water every week to
make 1,000 cups of tea.
A garden sprinkler uses as much water in half an hour as a family of four
in a day.
Schools spend around £106m a year on water. A large secondary school can
spend as much as £20,000. Careful water management together with an
effective education programme can reduce water use by two-thirds. This could
save a school of 600 pupils around £5,000 every year.
Schools can reduce their water consumption by assessing how much they use
every day and by looking at the size of their meter, identifying leaks and drips,
adapting the flow rate on taps and reducing the amount of water used in toilets.
ENERGY
The amount of energy the world uses every day has trebled over the past
century. To keep up with the growing demand for energy to heat and light our
homes and power our industries, power stations are burning more and more
fossil fuels. As well as using up limited natural resources, this process is
releasing increasing volumes of carbon dioxide (CO2) – the gas most
responsible for global climate change – into the atmosphere.
The energy required for heating, lighting and powering equipment in an ordinary
school classroom releases about 4,000 kg of CO2 every year – enough to fill four
hot-air balloons 10 metres in diameter. UK schools spend about £450m on
energy each year, three times as much as they do on books, and about 3.5% of
their budgets.
Some schools will spend four times more per pupil than similar schools in the
same region. The difference is often to do with how effectively schools manage
their energy use. Surveys show that, through simple low-cost and no-cost
measures, schools can reduce their fuel bills by up to 10% while also reducing
their CO2 emissions. The chart shows how energy use is divided up in an
average school. The percentages shown here will vary according to the types of
appliance used in the school and any energy-saving measures already
underway.
LITTER
The best way to describe litter is to say it is waste in the wrong place. That is,
rather than being placed in a bin or other waste container waste is left on the
pavement, park or school field. Litter is untidy and unsightly and can affect
people’s view on the quality and safety of an area. Litter can consist of anything
from a tiny sweet wrapper or an empty sandwich box to a discarded mattress in a
public park. The majority of litter comes from people dropping it either on purpose
or by accident, although some litter comes from other sources, for example windblown or natural litter.
Litter and schools
Many schools have a litter problem to some degree. Controlling litter, and making
sure that school grounds are cleaned up regularly, is an important priority. A
school with a serious litter problem:
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Creates complaints from local residents and businesses
Is off-putting to visitors
Can be demoralising for staff and pupils
Can be dangerous, due to broken glass or cans on the playing field
Is breaking the law
SCHOOL GROUNDS
The way school grounds are developed, used and managed can have a
significant impact on pupils’ attitudes and behaviour towards school, each other,
the wider environment and society. Pupils can spend as much as 25% of their
time in the school grounds. That’s more than one day a week, so it’s important
that the experiences they have there are the best and most positive they can be.
BIO-DIVERSITY
Biodiversity is all around us - from wildflowers and insects to mammals and birds.
It includes woodlands, meadows, wetlands and other natural habitats, as well as
man-made places such as plantations, fields, canals and gardens – even
‘wasteland’ can be valuable for wildlife.
Eco-Schools and the Big Wildlife Garden
The Big Wildlife Garden programme developed by Natural England can help you
attract birds, butterflies, frogs and toads, as well as many other animals and
plants, to your school garden.
2010 is International year of Biodiversity. If your school has identified biodiversity
as its chosen theme, please register with the Big Wildlife Garden and get green
fingers for wildlife!
The Big Wildlife Garden programme has been Eco-School ‘proofed’, which
means that the points you earn count towards your Bronze, Silver or Green Flag
award.
HEALTHY SCHOOLS
The state of our health is related not only to our long-term physical well-being but
also to emotional and social factors – our general happiness, confidence and
outlook on life. There is also a clear relationship between health and educational
attainment. Poor health deters educational success and educational achievement
strongly affects social and economic prospects, and choices about health.
GLOBAL DIMENSION
Citizenship, in its context of fair decision-making, runs throughout the EcoSchools process. This global perspective topic seeks to ensure that pupils also
consider the environmental, social and economic impacts of the decisions that
they make through this process, on the local and global community, in the future
as well as for the present.
There are currently more than 40,000 Eco-Schools around the world and in order
to introduce a global perspective into the curriculum and bespoke Eco-Schools
projects it is easy for you to get in touch to discuss common ventures.
WASTE
Waste or rubbish is what people throw away because they no longer need it or
want it. Almost everything we do creates waste and as a society we are currently
producing more waste than ever before. In the UK, we produce more than 430m
tonnes of waste per year and every year this figure increases.
TRANSPORT
Sustainable transport is any means of transport which reduces fuel consumption,
pollution and car use. This includes cycling, rail and bus transport, walking or
even travelling by scooter.