February Newsletter!
At Eco-Schools England there is nothing we enjoy more than seeing an Eco-Committee’s environmental action spreading beyond their school boundary and into their local community – raising environmental awareness, encouraging engagement with nature and ensuring their Eco-Schools work has the maximum possible impact! In fact… this is exactly what Step 5: Informing and Involving aims to do!
To help your Eco-Committee spread their environmental message far and wide, we have teamed up with sustainable clothing brand Frugi to create ‘No Escapade Too Big or Small’ Half-Term Holiday homework! This beautifully designed bingo sheet contains 16 challenges for young Eco-Warriors to complete with their families during their half-term holidays. Activities include litter-picking, bug-hotel building and responsible recycling. Click the link below to download for free from our friends at Frugi!
Informing and Involving Inspiration
We know that many of you are beginning to think about Step 5 (Informing and Involving) in your Eco-Schools Green Flag applications, this is one of our most ‘holistic’ steps! Step 5 naturally begins before an Eco-Committee has been formed and displaying a, recently-achieved, Eco-Schools Green Flag essentially informs your wider community that your school is actively involved in protecting our planet. The half-term homework linked to above, is a perfect way of involving families in Eco-Schools work and the idea is also very easily adapted… you might use your school e-newsletter to share weekly plant-based recipes, energy saving-tips or you could even set weekly challenges like creating bird feeders. This is a really simple way of informing your wider community about everyday environmental actions they can take, whilst also involving them in your Eco-Schools work!
Learning About Forests
Learning About Forests (LEAF) is a free award that advocates outdoor learning and hands-on experiences, which result in young people gaining a better understanding of the natural world. The half-term homework provided by Frugi and linked to above is perfect evidence towards a LEAF award, and participation in the LEAF programme can also be used as evidence towards an Eco-Schools Green Flag Award. You can register with the LEAF programme and download the programme guide by clicking the link below. There is still time to get involved before the application window opens on 1st June 2022!
And finally, keep an eye out for…
Our one-off February Newsletter Part 2, which will be arriving in your e-mail inbox (and on the Eco-Schools website) on Monday 14th February, it will contain details about this year’s Great Big School Clean including how to register for the Great Big School Clean and how to submit your results! In the meantime, don’t forget to save the date: Friday 25th March – Sunday 10th April!
