March Newsletter
Hello hardworking Eco-Coordinators!
With just under 2 months to go until we open the submission window for our Eco-Schools’ Green Flag awards, we wanted to give you even more ideas and inspiration for your activities.
Check out this video to learn more about the award and read on for eco-inspiration! Don’t forget to also check out our 50 Eco-Projects directory when you login to your Eco-Schools’ account for further ideas.
Great Big School Clean 15th – 31st March
The nation’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign returns for its 9th year on Friday, and we encourage you to join hundreds of schools and thousands of pupils taking part across the UK. To make your pledge and access the free digital resources pack, click the link below!
Canon Young Champion of the Year
If you have students aged between 9-25 who have campaigned for a social or environmental issue, then encourage them to apply for Canon Young Champion of the year. It’s free to take part and they could win a £1000 DSLR Vlogging kit and master class with a Canon Ambassador!
Help Develop Our Nursery Pathway
In last month’s newsletter we shared our plans to update and evolve the Eco-Schools’ programme for nurseries and early years settings before September 2024. If you work in an early years setting and have a spare 5 minutes to complete a survey, please click the link below. Feedback will be used to provide the best possible Eco-Schools experience for our youngest Eco-Warriors in the future.
Free Student Webinar from Teach the Teacher
If you know any young people passionate about taking positive climate action in their local community, Teach the Teacher are hosting a webinar for students titled, ‘Using your influence as a young person for positive climate action,’ on Thursday March 21st at 6:30pm. The session will cover goal setting, power mapping, and action planning all in the context of society, school, and classrooms. Before the session, students are encouraged to think about changes they would like to see, so that during the session they can begin working together to make these changes a reality.
Calculate Your School’s Carbon Footprint
Last month we launched our nation’s first free carbon calculator built for, and in collaboration with, nurseries, schools, and colleges. Designed by carbon calculating experts, the calculator can help you achieve your school’s net zero goals. Understanding the areas where you are producing emissions, is the first step towards reducing emissions. Each completed report comes with recommendations for your school and our handy ‘cheat sheet‘ can help make the process simple. Click the link below to get started.
The Climate Action Countdown
The Let’s Go Zero Coalition – which includes Eco-Schools – is inviting pupils across the country to join the Climate Action Countdown – a month of activities taking place this summer. From June 7 to July 5 the Climate Action Countdown will see teachers and pupils up and down the country embark on fun and quirky challenges to reduce their carbon emissions. Eco-Schools will be contributing an activity from our upcoming Healthy Summer toolkit – a resource to help pupils hold an eco-anxiety, drop-in discussion session for their peers. Check back next month to find out more about the Healthy Summer toolkit!
And finally,
- Is your school participating in Red Nose Day on Friday March 15th? If you are doing something funny for money, this is great evidence for our Global Citizenship topic, as Red Nose Day supports so many wonderful projects both in the UK and around the world.
- Friday 22nd March is World Water Day, an event designed to introduce young people to the importance of clean water, and how many people around the world don’t have access to it at home. Water Aid has a free Assembly PowerPoint you can deliver on the day.
- Earth Hour 2024 is on Saturday 23rd March between 8:30 – 9:30pm. Encouraging your school community to participate at home is a great way to expand the reach of your Eco-Schools’ work and allow young people and their families to demonstrate that they care about the future of our planet. WWF has some great ideas for participating.
- Learning Through Landscaped Local School Nature Grants are open until Friday 26th April 2024. These grants can provide up to £500 worth of outdoor equipment and staff training courses. Find out more here.
- Application for Woodland Trust’s Free Trees for Schools and Communities is currently open for tree packs to be delivered in November 2024. Head to their website to find out more and order some for your school, or local community project.
