It is a requirement for the Silver award and Green Flag that the school has agreed, adopted and displayed an Eco-Code. The Eco-Code is your mission statement. It should demonstrate, in a clear and imaginative way, your school’s commitment to improving its environmental performance.
Your Eco-Code should list the main objectives of your Action Plan, covering real actions that the pupils and staff intend to carry out. The whole school, led by the Action Team, should have a key role in developing the code. This will give them a greater sense of responsibility for the values that the code represents. The Eco-Code may take the form of simple phrases, a poem or a song. Its presentation could be a design challenge for pupils. Citizenship and personal social health education classes provide a good opportunity to discuss the Eco-Code’s meaning and values.
Your Eco-Code should be displayed throughout the school on noticeboards, in classrooms, staff rooms and corridors.
The Action Team should understand that an Eco-Code – like any behaviour or other code – will fail to have meaning if those who it is aimed at do not understand and subscribe to its content. It is more likely to be effective if it is evolved alongside other changes brought about by the Action Team, rather than simply brainstormed, written and displayed. It is for this reason that an Eco-Code is not a requirement of the Bronze award, when schools are at the very beginning of their learning process.
| Green Flag: | 1,194 |
| Silver: | 3,873 |
| Bronze: | 4,639 |
