How to develop an Action Plan

The Action Plan is core to your work as an Eco-School and should be developed using the results of your Environmental Review. Whether your school is at Bronze, Silver or Green Flag level your Action Plan must be shared with the whole school community.

At Bronze level, your Action Plan should list the actions you are going to take to improve your environmental performance, an indication of when you will undertake these actions and who is responsible for achieving these actions.

At Silver and Green Flag level, the range of objectives in your Action Plan should be wider and they should be accompanied by a detailed timescale for achieving each step.

Developing an Action Plan

1. Look at the results of your Environmental Review. Pick out which of the nine themes you want to tackle, e.g. litter, energy, water, etc.
2. Decide what action you can take to improve these issues.
   If you want to improve your garden and concentrate on biodiversity have a look at the Big Wildlife Garden programme for lots of ideas to help you create a wonderful space to attract wildlife. Measure your success by achieving garden awards.
3. Decide what your measure of success will be. Make sure the action you take is something that you can measure. For example, if you decide to tackle energy, your measure could be looking for a reduction in the school energy bills. Why not register at www.jointhepod.org/eco-schools and complete one of their activities as a great starting point. All Green Flag Eco-Schools are required to provide their Display Energy Certificate (DEC) which is an excellent measure to include in your Action Plan.
4. Decide timescales for each action. Do you want to achieve your target in a few weeks, by the end of the term/year or is it longer term?
5. Assign people to be responsible for each action. This could be pupils, staff or anyone else within the school community.
6. Complete your Action Plan. Do not be over-ambitious in the targets you set. Failing to meet targets or deadlines can be demotivating. Make sure that the whole school is involved in delivering your actions and that the headteacher supports your Action Plan.

If your Environmental Review has suggested a large number of issues to address, do not feel that you have to achieve them all at once – prioritise them, and divide the targets into short, medium and long term. It is much better to go forward in small steps and celebrate success frequently.

A template and an example of a completed Action Plan are available for download in the Links and Resources section of this website.

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