An Eco-School receives dedicated support from a Keep Wales Tidy Eco-Schools Officer and is guided through the Eco-Schools programme, application and awards process. The great thing about the programme is that there’s always room to develop and build on the incredible work that the students do, at every age.
To maximise success, all our Eco-Schools work through seven steps. Once a school has put this process in place and collected evidence of their progress, they can apply for an Eco-Schools Award – an internationally recognised accreditation.
For detailed guidance on the Eco-Schools process, download our step-by-step guide.
More information on the seven steps can be seen below or check out our informational videos which showcase each stage in action.
The Eco-Coordinator facilitates the Eco-Schools programme within the school.
Start your Eco-Schools journey by registering your school today.
Your Eco-Committee will represent the views of the whole school, and act as the focus to push forward actions and discuss progress. The Eco-Committee also work to keep the profile of the Eco-Schools programme high.
The purpose of the review is to help the Eco-Committee come up with ideas as to how the school can reduce its impact on the environment. Conducting a comprehensive review will ensure that no significant areas of impact are overlooked. These ideas then feed into the Action Plan.
Why have an Action Plan? It’s very important to organise your ideas into an action plan. Through the process of creating the plan you will be able to make sure that you include a realistic number of activities, and also work out how you will monitor and measure the progress of your actions. Having a SMART action plan will really help everyone to focus.
Why Monitor and Evaluate? To find out if you are achieving the targets in your action plan you must monitor and measure your progress. This will allow you to evaluate the success of your activities and plan to make changes to ensure you are still working towards achieving your targets.
Why inform and involve? It is important to ensure as many people as possible know about and are involved in your activities. Having more people involved in your Eco-actions will enable you to increase your impact and maximise the fun!
Why have an Eco-Code? The Eco-Code is a fun way of capturing the main objectives of the Eco-Schools Committee. It should be presented in a format that’s meaningful to pupils and the school community. It can be used to raise the profile of the Eco-Committee and the action plan targets, and should be reviewed regularly to ensure it remains relevant and recognised.
Why link to the curriculum? By ensuring that the Eco-Schools process links into the school’s curriculum, rather than being a separate activity for the small group on the Eco-Committee, ESDGC is delivered. It also ensures that other members of staff are involved in supporting the work. Pupils from throughout the school gain and understanding of how real life environmental issues are dealt with in a real-life setting.
Looking for examples, more context or inspiration along your Eco-Schools journey? Then check out our introductory videos which illustrate exactly what is needed at each step of the process. These videos showcase real life examples of how schools across Wales have completed and benefited from each of the seven steps.