Environmental Awards and Programmes
These environmental awards and programmes celebrate the achievements of individuals and groups that have overcome challenges to achieve great things.
The programmes provide guidance and a well-worn route through the stages of development required to reach the end goal. The ideas that are shared are wide and original, stimulating others to take things one step further, adapt and make it their own. The participants energy is infectious and there is so much to learn from each other.
Get ready for some inspiration with these ones below. It's exciting to see how such a range of organisational models are producing success in so many aspects of the environmental education field.
Environmental awards and programmes are playing a vital role in encouraging and inspiring schools and groups to stretch themselves and achieve amazing things.
Let's Go Zero!
Let's Go Zero is an ambitious national campaign involving schools and parents with the aim of achieving zero carbon by 2030. They are also working with government to ensure the support needed for schools is provided. An exciting group with loads of energy!
Their 7 goals are
- All UK schools being zero carbon by 2030
- investment in teacher training
- Investment in school estates (buildings/land)
- All new buildings from 2022 to be net zero carbon
- All schools to have a funded Climate Action Plan by 2025
- Every school to have a Sustainability Lead
- Sustainability embedded in careers guidance in all schools by 2025
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Climate Leaders' Awards
This video outlines the aims of the strategy and the two main initiatives
- the National Education Nature Park (imagining all of the schools' grounds connected into one big nature park) and
- the Climate Leaders Award.
The Climate Leaders' Award is a DfE initiative, which aims to put the UK at the forefront of sustainable education.
There are four key aims:
- Excellence in education to equip pupils for the future;
- Net zero - enabling pupils to participate actively in the transition to net zero;
- Adapting our education buildings to prepare for the effects of climate change;
- Creating a better environment for future generations through connecting with nature, enhancing biodiversity, and improving air quality.
It's exciting to see such an ambitious plan, combining environmental awards and programmes, covering so many different aspects of education. Hopefully more details and case studies will be available over the next year, so we can see how it pans out in different settings.
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Green Schools Project
The Green Schools Project aims for every UK school to be a model of sustainability, enabling young people to live in a sustainable way and make a positive impact on society.
The Green Schools Project provides support and resources to schools to help them engage in environmental projects.
Their Climate Action Programme involves a series of teacher training sessions to support teachers develop their environmental components of the curriculum.
They also provide Eco Team Support in the form of university student volunteers who help run the regular meetings of the Eco-Team and support projects. They also provide guidance for secondary students with university applications and options.
The Green Schools Project also runs Expert Visits, which are a series of three visits per year from an expert in the field of running successful environmental projects in schools.
The Green Schools Project also runs The Social Business Challenge which is designed to inspire KS4-5 pupils to explore sustainable enterprises.
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The Primary Awards for Green Education in Schools (PAGES)
The Primary Awards for Green Education in Schools (PAGES) is an awards scheme for primary schools in the United Kingdom that aims to support environmental education for young people at primary schools. PAGES promotes cross-curricular learning in environmental education on any kind of environmental issue. PAGES links with the National Curriculum for England and Wales, the Northern Ireland Curriculum Primary and the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence.