We reviewed your application and noted the following:
We like your approach to appointing the Eco-Committee members whereby you used an application system. The children filled in application forms explaining their interest in the environment and their suggestions for the eco-committee going forward. The applications were then assessed by staff with two children being chosen from all junior classes and two representatives from the infant school. It is wonderful that your meetings have helped with team building and enhanced the childrens’ critical thinking and leadership skills. It is clear that your approach to the Eco-Committee demonstrates a proactive, inclusive and educational approach to the programme. It is impressive to see! We also like how your Eco-Committee communicates their work in a variety of ways. For example, it is great to hear that you committee members give feedback to their classes after meetings and that you also use assemblies, posters, emails, your Eco-Board and school newsletters to inform external stakeholders. You also use your school website and social media. This approach shows how valued and embedded the ideas underpinning the Eco-Schools programme are in your school! It was really great to read how your Environmental Review provided the basis for the projects in your Action Plan and helped you identify the areas you need to focus on. We like that after completing the review, the children communicated their findings by creating posters and using word of mouth to discuss them with peers. Your inclusive and educational approach to the process demonstrates a reflective and considered approach to your Eco-Schools work - this is a great skill that we can all learn from! You’ve clearly taken great efforts to connect your school grounds, biodiversity and waste projects happening across the school and embedding work into curriculum and everyday school life in a really impactful way. This is really inspiring and clever. Your Action Planning is great! The actions that you planned out were SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound). This is important as it helps to achieve progress and empower your Eco-Committee. It was also great to see accountability and monitoring marked in your Action Plans and that you identify actions in detail. We like how your Eco-Code is full of clear ideas and calls for action for all to get behind, and some important ideas to help protect your local environment. Excellent work! Your curriculum links were really clear and creative! For example, we like that you use active learning strategies such as taking your children out to your greenhouse and discussing insect and wind pollination, encouraging them to decipher which plants were insect pollinated and which ones were wind pollinated. You also discussed the features of plants and how they reproduce, looking at examples in the greenhouse and in the school grounds. It is wonderful that your children then observed bees pollinating the plants around the school grounds. This kind of creative practical pedagogical work hopefully helps these young children to create lovely memories and approach these important topics in fresh and relevant ways, and is a great way to encourage them to take pride and ownership of their local environment. You've also clearly looked both internally and externally and engaged with a wide range of different stakeholders, including working with the Tree Council, EPIC, the Woodland Trust, Lancashire Wildlife Trust and the RHS. We love that your children have taken part in tree planting and wildflower sowing due to these external relationships. This kind of work is a good example of the collaborative approach we will all need to adopt to help protect and improve our environment - your application made us feel really positive for the future! Your achievements this year have been lovely to hear about. It is wonderful to see that your children are keen to protect the environment, and this is in large part due to the actions and attitudes of your staff in regards to setting an example in raising the importance of taking care of our planet. It is wonderful to hear about so many initiatives like your initiative to have each child plant a tree! It is great to hear about your school getting a pond! We love that you have Introduced wildlife planting areas, managed the meadow, created a bug hotel, and also stopped using pesticides and herbicides at school to promote biodiversity! You should be commended for further improving your school grounds through litter picking efforts and a greenhouse installation! Well done for encouraging recycling and sustainability by buying extra bins to encourage recycling across the school and having a composting initiative. All of these actions show how embedded the values of the Eco-Schools initiative are within your school! Congratulations to everyone for the great work you have managed to do. You should all be very proud of your amazing work and the great application you have submitted. You've really earned your Green Flag with Distinction Award! Well done everyone!