Funding for Eco-Schools Scotland
Last year my colleague Roseanna Cunningham wrote that over 1,100 schools and pre-schools had achieved the prestigious Green Flag, the highest award available with a strong focus on contributing to a sustainable, low-carbon society, now and in the future.
This was a fantastic achievement and shows that a huge number of children and young people are ambitious and considerate enough to think about the sustainable development of their schools, and how this impacts the environment around them.
This great result has made us more determined than ever to keep to our target of having at least 2000 Green Flag centres in Scotland by 2015.
It is so important, now more than ever, pupils realise that by working together they can improve the environment around them, the way the buildings and grounds are run and through the culture and ethos of the school and the school’s community.
Such environmental awareness is also a principle of Curriculum for Excellence which we have now rolled out to all public schools in Scotland.
I am pleased to announce that the Scottish Government is able to award Keep Scotland Beautiful, who run Eco-Schools Scotland, funding of £425,000 for the financial year 2011/12. This means that more early years centres, primary and secondary schools will be able to achieve and retain the Green Flag Award.
An online workshop on our Engage for Education website is looking for schools to share ideas and what is being done so far to promote sustainable development education.
The Eco-Schools programme allows schools to share good practice locally, regionally, nationally and internationally to continue to show Scotland as one of the world leaders in the Eco-Schools movement.
Michael Russell Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning
1 comment
Having just returned from a week long trip taking our Eco Classroom workshop to four high schools in the Highlands (Plockton, Portree, Gairloch and Ullapool), it’s no surprise to me me that Scotland is leading the way when it comes to environmental awareness. It was an absolute honour and pleasure to work with two hundred students as part of the NESTA Idiscover programme in ‘remote’ schools. The community spirit displayed by young people in this area is inspring to say the least. Teachers were open minded and encouraging of anything which enhances the need to be sustainable, and the students were a credit to them. After just one day (morning even!) spent researching and developing collaborative ideas, their presentations were astonishing.
Scotland the Brave indeed – for leading by example and embedding sustainability into the curriculum.