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Steps to a sustainable school environment
Why should we?
We are all beginning to understand that sustainability is becoming a necessity as we adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change and learn to manage the planet’s resources to ensure our future. Students are going to enter a different world with new skills, knowledge and potentially new ways of living and working.
1. Create a whole school community vision
Each school will have a different vision due to its location and social context. However, placing sustainability at the heart of everything and not as an additional policy is key to success. Senior leaders, all staff, students and parents need to be involved in creating the vision.
Trusts and Federations may create a Vision for all their schools, which is then unpinned by individual school visions, that incorporate each school's location and social context.
You may decide to create the vision at the start of the auditing process or once it is completed and you have a clear benchmark.
Guidance documents:
2. Where are we now?
There are many areas of school life and estates to consider:
|
Estate - buildings and grounds |
Heating and lighting |
| Water | Travel |
| Supply chain | Curriculum |
| The local community | Waste and Recycling |
Audit each one of these areas to access a baseline. Who will do this? How will you involve your students and all staff? Involving the students is essential as they will see the potential impact on their future. Equally important are the school staff who with the backing of the senior leadership team must create an environment which allows change to happen and allows challenge to existing practices.
Is this the time to involve the local community? This will allow you to identify the different strands of sustainability work already taking place in your school. You may find you are doing more than you believe.
3. Where do we want to be?
Create a strategic action plan with short term actions and longer-term actions. Ensure you allocate responsibilities for the action plan actions and how you will measure the success of the action plan. Distribute leadership responsibilities and ensure your sustainable goals are embedded in your school improvement plan.
4. How do we get there?
Suggested Programme Model (Adapt for your school)
|
Vision workshop |
|
Actions workshop Assemblies and whole school Audits Involvement |
| Action plan shared with whole school community |
| Revisit vision and share draft plan |
| Opportunity to access business support |
| Short term easy wins/ changes |
|
Teacher CPD and use of Policies written to include curriculum resource sustainability |
| Wider community engagement - media/ local groups etc |
| Long term actions carried out for each area/ sustainability theme |
|
Review and re- audit all areas and revisit visin and action plan |
| Opportunity to access business support |