March Newsletter!
With less than two months to go until the Eco-Schools Green Flag application window opens on 1st May (and less than 5 months until it closes for submissions on 31st July), the Eco-Schools Team are here to support your application. Our most recently released resource aims to inspire and accelerate eco-activity prior to the application window opening. The resource contains project, curriculum, and monitoring ideas for each of Eco-Schools’ Ten Topics that can all be realistically delivered before the end of this academic year. You can view this resource as a video here, or download the pdf version by clicking here.
On top of this, you can now sign up for our third and final training session of this school year. This session will cover steps Steps 6 and 7 before looking at the application process in more detail. To view training dates and register for free head click here. Places are limited so be quick to avoid disappointment.
Big Battery Hunt 2023
We’re calling on you to join thousands of other schools taking part in the Big Battery Hunt 2023, working together to help recycle our nation’s used batteries.
The process is simple; register with the Big Battery Hunt to access free resources, ask your pupils to collect their used batteries, inform the Big Battery Hunt how many batteries your school has recycled. Everyone who submits their totals will be in with a chance of winning £3,500 worth of school garden and playground equipment, plus a Nintendo Switch for one of your star pupils.
Participation is great evidence for the Eco-Schools Waste, and Energy topics. If you would like to find out more about how this project links to Eco-Schools, check out our simple guide here!
Great Big School Clean 2023
The Great Big School Clean is back, taking place from 17th March to 2nd April! Last year 260,000 young people took part and we need your support to help us make this number even bigger in 2023!
To get involved let us know how many of your pupils will participate in a litter-pick and how many bags of litter they pledge to collect. You can do this by clicking here or on the, ‘Pledge to Pick!’ button below.
Once you’ve made your pledge, you’ll receive a digital pack of resources via e-mail which will help you activate the campaign in your school!
Final Call: Cut Your Carbon Impacts
On Monday 20th March we will be completing 2023’s Cut Your Carbon campaign.
So, if you took part in the campaign, but haven’t yet submitted your results, please do so before Monday 20th March by clicking the link below. As a thank you to all those who participated, we will be waiving the Green Flag fee for three randomly selected schools or nurseries who have submitted their data. We will be contacting selected winners soon.
We’re Improving the Eco-Schools Programme!
If you achieved an Eco-Schools Green Flag during the last academic year, you should have received our Renewal Feedback Survey via e-mail on the 28th February.
This survey is your opportunity to let us know how you would like the Eco-Schools programme to develop in coming years. If you haven’t completed it already, but have a spare couple of minutes, we’d appreciate your feedback before the survey closes on Monday 20th March.
As a thank you, the Eco-Schools Team will randomly select 5 correspondents and gift them a £100 B&Q voucher to spend on School Grounds projects. We will be contacting selected winners soon.
Litter Fact: careful littering… is still littering!
In a YouGov survey for Keep Britain Tidy, one in four people admitted to ‘carefully littering,’ this is when someone ‘carefully’ leaves their rubbish behind, it might be a coffee cup on a wall, or sandwich packaging on a bench.
Cutting Carbon at Gatehouse School, London!
Between 6th – 10th February, Gatehouse Eco-Warriors participated in Eco-Schools’ Cut Your Carbon week. Energy was their chosen area and throughout the week they delivered a variety of fun activities involving all of their schoolmates, including a whole school assembly (Step 5: Informing and Involving)!
First, they carried out an energy efficiency survey (Step 6: Monitoring and evaluation) at school and introduced an energy efficient heating and window policy to save electricity. The Eco-Warriors made sure that each class received a copy of the policies and that necessary changes were made i.e. no more displays on the windows.
In order to remind children and staff members to turn off lights and devices when not in use, the Eco-Warriors also introduced a ‘traffic light system’ for light and device switches to promote energy-efficient behaviours.
A whole-school poster competition was launched to involve all the pupils and 5 winners were selected. Each winner was given a plant as a prize and their wonderful energy-saving posters are now displayed throughout the school.
Well done, Gatehouse Eco-Warriors. Keep it up!
