Eco-School Status

Every school’s core purpose is to leave a wonderful legacy – a legacy in the form of the human beings that it sends out into the world and the legacy they in turn leave around them. Education shapes those lives, but in today’s world we have to reflect on where this legacy will be set.

The Dalai Lama explains that: “It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the world in which we all live.” Today’s young people recognise that they have a responsibility to protect the environment. 

We're therefore incredibly proud that The Friary School holds the prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag Award with Distinction.

This national award recognises our commitment to sustainability and environmental education, celebrating the collective efforts of our students, staff, families and wider school community in making a positive impact on the environment.

As a school we have been thrilled to shape our curriculum around this and Eco-School status helps us to harness our students’ passion and imagination in improving the world around them.

In awarding the Green Flag, judges commented that:

"Your school’s greatest success... has been the growing awareness and involvement from pupils across every year group. Pupils have become far more willing to learn about sustainability and take part in Eco initiatives, which has created a positive shift in attitudes across the school. It’s been brilliant to see pupils developing a clearer understanding of why protecting our planet matters for their own futures, and this shared commitment has had a genuinely uplifting impact on the whole school community."

The judges highlighted several particular strengths:

• Pupil-led assemblies during Road Safety Week helped all year groups engage with transport and sustainability issues.
• Waste and recycling were explored in creative ways, from Year 7 Christmas recycling projects to inter-house competitions that helped pupils understand the amount of waste produced at school and at home.
• Older students made strong curriculum links through their Geography studies, examining sustainable cities such as Curitiba and evaluating Amsterdam's Waste-to-Energy approach.
• The school's commitment to involving pupils, families and the wider community was praised, with regular updates and photographs shared through the school website and social media to celebrate initiatives such as litter-picking projects and plastic bottle recycling.
• The electronic Eco Board displayed on school TVs was recognised as a highly effective way of promoting key environmental messages. Staff and student assemblies linked to events such as Second Hand September and World Water Day also helped ensure the whole school community remained engaged.

Our Eco-School curriculum focus is about shaping the future and leaving a legacy through our students that helps to save our environment and our planet.

Of course, our curriculum lessons cover key eco-themes, but our Focus Weeks, our PHSE sessions, field trips, and our bespoke projects also play their part. Our British identify may be shaped by different faiths, beliefs and individual liberty but environmental concerns is all about collective action and as a school our curriculum helps to harness this for the here and now and the years ahead too.

There is an obvious synergy between our Eco-School status and the school’s climate change action plan, which we have written about here.

To learn more about our Eco-School Status, please contact Sam Sullivan, Assistant Headteacher, via office@friaryschool.co.uk.