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Flying the flag

Flying the flag

For most teachers, parents or pupils, the green flag fluttering at the school gates is a familiar sight – a sign that it has passed the test as an Eco-School.
It is arguably harder now in Scotland to find a school that doesn’t have one than finding one that does, but the work to get it is still no box-ticking exercise. 
An environmental audit is carried out looking at all aspects of the school’s activities, from waste and litter through to use of energy and biodiversity, action plans are drawn up and an ‘eco-code’ or mission statement is drawn up.
And, at the heart of the concept, while an adult will act as co-ordinator, it is the children that make the decisions.
When the Green Flag, the ultimate stamp of approval, is awarded it can be a means to improve the environmental credentials of the surrounding community and businesses or even provide the children and young people taking part with the skills for their future careers.
Keep Scotland Beautiful, the charity responsible for administering the international scheme in this country, says what is being done here puts us ahead of the pack.
Julie Wilson, education and learning manager at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said the emphasis on learning and sustainability embedded in the education system means Scotland is acknowledged as the ‘leader’ in the programme. 
The Eco-Schools movement is now 20 years old and in Scotland almost 99 per cent of publicly-funded schools are now registered on the programme.
While the first Green Flag was not awarded until 1999, there are now 1,830 and the plan is to make it to 2,000 by March next year.
Schools are not allowed to rest on their laurels either. Each flag has to be renewed every two years; 11 schools have renewed six times and 85 have renewed five times.
The scheme is now fully enshrined in Scotland, supported by successive Scottish Executives and Governments and was originally adopted as a key performance indicator for local authorities – although while this was originally linked to national outcomes, this is no longer the case and there has been some discussion about including it in single outcome agreements. 
Wilson says that of those schools which have renewed their flags several times, there are now some “fantastic ambassadors” showing what can be achieved.
Whitelees Primary School in North Lanarkshire, for example, has run cycling classes for all ages - from toddlers to parents and has been working with the local council to put in cycle paths to give safer and more environmentally-friendly ways of getting to school. Aultmore Park Primary in Glasgow has grown its own food on an allotment, which has been used to feed the community and its own school lunches. 
“The school can provide really strong and vibrant learning,” says Wilson “It is not just focused on learning and teaching within the box of the classroom. 
“It is about getting out and about and connecting – with your local communities, with the world, the global context and these really persistent issues we all need to work together to solve.
“When you put learning in that real world, real life context it immediately becomes more vibrant and powerful, because it has a greater sense of meaning.”
The concept was originally designed for primarily schools, but has been taken far beyond that. Now, as it marks its 20th birthday, a review is taking place on how to make it more relevant – particularly regarding major changes in education such as Curriculum for Excellence and the Wood Commission.
Wilson says the strategy needs to be reshaped to fit into new areas of education.
In secondary schools, there is to be more focus on links that take it beyond the classroom, onto college or into Modern Apprenticeships with a greater focus on skills in science, technology, engineering and more, particularly how it can develop Scotland’s workforce.
There is an equal focus on early years and how the programme can be tailored more to them.
This is something that has already been explored outside the programme with the idea of nature-based learning and outdoor nurseries, such as Stramash Outdoor Nurseries which promote unstructured, free play outside at its premises in Fort William and Oban.
This link to the outdoors is something actively promoted in Curriculum for Excellence, which sets out to offer “opportunities for all children and young people to enjoy first-hand experience outdoors, whether within the school grounds, in urban green spaces, in Scotland’s countryside or in wilder environments.”
The CfE strategy says: “Such experiences inspire passion, motivating our children and young people to become successful learners and to develop as healthy, confident, enterprising and responsible citizens.”
Wilson says government support has been key to the success of Eco-Schools in Scotland. adding: “Successive education ministers and the First Minister have been really big advocates and supporters of the programme.”
Funding for the scheme, £400,000 for 2014/15, plus an additional £75,000 for food and drink-related projects, comes from the Scottish Government, and this is supplemented by the work carried out by thousands of volunteers, including parents and teachers.
However, the funding agreement runs out in March and Keep Scotland Beautiful will be talking to the government on what any future deal will be.
Wilson said that while previous budgets came from two directorates, Energy and Climate Change and Learning, in future this could include other areas to reflect the all-encompassing nature of Eco-Schools’ work.
While acknowledging budgets are tight, Wilson said the charity would be asking for increased funding for Eco-Schools “because it is really expected to do more.”
She said: “We know what we want to do as Keep Scotland Beautiful. It’s absolutely embedded in our plans for sustainable development education across schools’ communities, all the different aspects of our work.
“We have great plans; we are really excited about our plans. We want to do more but in order to do more, we need more funding.”
The government is firmly in support of the project. 
Minister for Learning Alasdair Allan said: “The Eco-Schools programme is a fantastic initiative as it encourages our young people to take action towards an economically, socially and environmentally just world, and supports Scotland’s efforts in delivering our ambitious climate change targets.
“I’m pleased to see more than 98 per cent of Scotland’s schools now participate in the programme as learning for sustainability is an important theme within Curriculum for Excellence and will help develop our children and young people as global citizens.”

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