Eco-Schools

What is an Eco School?

Eco-Schools is a global programme engaging millions of children across 64 different countries, making it the largest environmental schools programme in the world.

18 million children attend an Eco-School worldwide.  Eco-Schools is operated globally by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), and was launched in 1994 in response to the 1992 UN Rio Earth Summit.

Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy is the Eco-Schools National Operator for England, where more than 18,000 schools are registered and 1,200 schools currently hold the internationally recognised Eco-Schools Green Flag.

The programme provides a framework for learning and action around ten topics – biodiversity, energy, global citizenship, healthy living, litter, marine, school grounds, transport, waste, and water. It follows a very simple seven-step process to lead schools on their journey to achieving a Green Flag Award.

The programme is pupil-led and encourages whole school involvement. It also encourages closer links between schools and their communities. It offers many benefits for individual pupils, developing their knowledge and skills and improving their well-being. There are also many benefits for schools, with an added bonus of saving money.

Find out more –  https://www.eco-schools.org.uk/

Stone Hill School Eco Committee meet at least once every half term to talk about all things green.   This is led with great enthusiasm by Miss Lea, our Eco Committee aims to develop environmental awareness across our school community and to care for and develop our local environment.

We have already successfully achieved the Bronze and Silver Awards.
We have successfully achieved our first Green Flag Award by carrying out the following 7 steps:

Environmental Review

• The Eco-Committee must complete an Environmental Review covering the Eco-Schools ten topics and green procurement policy topics
• The results have to be recorded – To view our environmental review please click here
• Pupils are involved in carrying out the review
• Results of the review are discussed by the Eco-Committee and communicated with the whole school
• The review must be completed at least once every two years, but ideally should be completed every school year, to enable the Eco-Committee to do follow-up reviews to see the progress your school has made.

Action Plan

• The Eco-Committee produces a detailed Action Plan.
• The plan contains timescales, who is responsible and how eco work will be monitored and evaluated
• The Eco-Committee shares the Action Plan with the rest of the school

Linking to the curriculum

• Sustainability is covered in at least three curriculum areas by most year groups

Involving the whole school and wider community

• The school has a prominent, designated notice board, detailing Eco-Schools activities
• The Eco-Committee regularly communicates Eco-Schools activities to the whole school and wider community via assemblies and newsletters
• The school shares good practice with other schools who wish to join the Eco-Schools programme or who are already engaged in the programme
• The school shares good practice and supports others within their Eco-Community

Monitoring and evaluation

• Physical evidence is collected of the school’s progress including data collection and analysis
• Some monitoring data has been used in curriculum work
• The pupils at Stone Hill School have recorded an action and the impact and evaluation of that action across all of the 10 Eco Schools topics
• Here are some examples of our monitoring and evaluation activities:
  Waste – Book and Toy Swap – click here.
  Water – A Visit to a Water Treatment Plant and Yorkshire Water delivering workshops in school – click here. 
  Litter – Here are the results of our community litter pick – click here. 
  Marine – Here are the results of our beach clean up.
  Biodiversity – click here to see the results of our bug hunt after we had built a bug hotel.

Eco-Code

• The school has an agreed, adopted and displayed Eco-Code – click here to view our Eco Code
• We adopted an new Eco Code during our Eco Week to support our focus topics of Marine, Water and Waste. Click here to see our topic Eco Code.
• The Eco-Code is displayed on the Eco-Schools notice board and in all classrooms
• The Eco-Code is known and understood by the majority of pupils and staff

Project work

• The school completes in-depth work on at least three of the Eco-Schools ten topics, one of which must be energy

The work completed so far:

We have an Eco Mascot – called Planet Potato Man – designed by Max Brinkhurst. Please click here.

We have already achieved our Bronze and Silver Awards by improving our school grounds, making sure that we reduce, reuse and recycle our waste and by learning about how our actions impact on the world around us.

We have developed an Eco Code that is displayed in all classrooms.  It is a green code that we all follow to make our planet a better place to live.

Heatherwood School – Outdoor Learning

The Eco-Committee really enjoyed their trip to Heatherwood School to take part in some outdoor learning as part of the International School Grounds Month project which is an Eco Schools initaitve.  The children had the opportunity to use the outdoor classroom to learn about plants, birds, bugs and local wildlife.  Children enjoyed creating pictures using natural materials and a bug hunting activity.  It was lots of fun and we enjoyed working with the children from Heatherwood School. Please click here for more outdoor learning.

Helping Hands Litter Pick

The Eco-Committee really enjoyed taking part in the Helping Hands litter pick at Elm Field Park.  The children were shocked at how much waste was littered around the park and the hedgerows even though bins were provided.  The children all shared the same concerns that the litter was making the environment look dirty and were worried about the safety of animals and wildlife because of human activity.  Children were surprised that people were not aware of their responsibility to put their waste into the bin or to take it home.  They collected lots of rubbish and are keen to start a litter picking club in school to keep our environment clean and safe. Please click here for more photo’s taken.

Sensory Garden Competition. Please click here for more information. Please click here for winning design.

Bug Hotel  July 2018 – Making our Bug Hotel

Some of the children from on Eco Committee worked with Miss Lea (Eco-Schools Coordinator), Miss Hurst (DMBC Energy Team) and Miss Exelby (School Council Secretary) to create a bug hotel within the upper school outdoor classroom.  This is part of our School Grounds topic work.

We used old pallets as the base for making the bug hotel.  We had to collect sticks, grass, leaves and mud to help establish a natural habitat to attract bugs and other insects to our school grounds.  We also used old plant pots and pipes to create lots of homes for wildlife.

We really enjoyed creating the bug hotel and we are looking forward to surveying which insects have moved into the bug hotel when we come back to school in September! Please click here to view photo’s taken.

February 2019 -Class 5 – Recycled Robots

In science class 5 have been learning about recycling.  We discussed and shared our ideas about what recycling is.  We also thought about why we recycled our waste.

We sorted some waste into different types of materials that could be recycled, for example, paper, cardboard, tin, glass, compost and plastic.  We shared our ideas and experiences about the things that we recycle at home.

We used materials that could be recycled to make our own recycling robots.  It was lots of fun and we really enjoyed being creative. Take a look at our photographs.

March 2019 – Lower School Eco Day.

Children in Lower School took part in a series of activities and workshops to learn about how to care for our environment and look after life on our planet.  Miss Hurst from DMBC Energy Team came into school to support us with our learning.  Please look at the workshops for more information.

Class 4 – Wind watch

Class 5 – Mini Beasts

Class 6 – Plastics in our Oceans

Eco Week 17th – 21st June – We launched our Eco Week with a whole school assembly.

To achieve our Green Flag Award we have focused our learning on three topics; Marine, Water and Waste.  We had a week dedicated to learning about these three topics across school.  This involved in-school workshops lead by teachers, and visitors from Yorkshire Water and BDR Waste Treatment Facility.  Pupils learned about:

• marine conservation and the damage of plastics in our oceans,
• reducing and recycling waste and the importance of reducing the amount of waste that is sent to landfill sites,
• eco-friendly and sustainable methods of building,
• the importance of conserving water, and
• understanding what can and can’t be put down our drains.

Pupils in Year 8 visited a local recycling plant to learn about reducing waste and recycling.

All pupils in Lower School went on a trip to The Deep and took part in a number of workshops and activities to learn about marine life and conservation.

Pupils in Years 6 and Year 11 supported North East Lincolnshire Council with a beach clean-up at Fitties Beach, Cleethorpes.  Pupils were shocked at the amount of waste and plastic on our local beaches and in the surrounding areas.  Pupils understood the harmful effects of littering on marine life.

The girls in Upper School experienced a visit to a Water Treatment Plant and took part in a series of activities to discover how our water is collected, cleaned and distributed.

Project Work 2019-2020

Eco Warrior Challenge Summer 2020

September 2020 – The Eco Committee have shared the results of the Environmental Review with all pupils in school through a special Eco Schools Assembly.  Pupils voted for their favourite three actions from the suggested actions as identified in the Environmental Review.  The Eco Committee counted up the results to create our new Action Plan.  This year we are going to be focusing on Transport – taking part in cycle safety training, School Grounds – developing the Sensory Garden and woodland areas to enhance outdoor learning provision and Waste – to hold a book and toy swap.