The Eco Schools Green Flag award celebrates the efforts of St Mary’s dedicated Eco-Committee, which is overseen by St Mary’s Sustainability Coordinator, Mrs Whiting. The group is run and staffed by a passionate party of students, who are each committed to making sustainable, environmentally friendly decisions to benefit the school community. The award follows a year of hard work by the Eco Committee and Mrs Whiting, and an assessment of the school's current level of sustainability across its classrooms, kitchen, infrastructure, governance, utilities and community.
To achieve the Eco Schools Green Flag, St Mary’s Eco-Committee was required to complete a seven step process in a single academic year. The Eco-Committee chose to focus their efforts on three topics: marine, waste and school grounds. These topics were based on a school-wide environmental review, conducted to identify opportunities for action. In addition, to achieve a distinction, St Mary’s was required to complete an additional seven steps for both the Bonus Educational questions and the Bonus Environmental Impact scheme. This involved an evaluation of how sustainability themes are effectively embedded across the St Mary’s curriculum.
Commenting, Mrs Whiting, said: “Congratulations to our Eco Committee, who work tirelessly to raise awareness of important local, national, and global environmental issues within our school community and beyond. They should be incredibly proud of this achievement. The Eco Schools Green Flag acknowledges, rewards, and celebrates the ecological achievements of pupil-led teams. I know the Committee will continue to build on this success – implementing new initiatives and championing changes that will help to make St Mary’s a more sustainable place to learn – now and in the future.”
Eco-Schools describes itself as the largest educational programme worldwide. Implemented in 70 countries, the scheme involves 56,000 schools, engaging 1.4 million teachers and 19.4 million students. To find out more about the Eco Schools Green Flag, please visit: https://www.eco-schools.org.uk/about/eco-schools-green-flag-other-awards/
