Decision - Eco Schools Programme Update

(1)       That the Sustainability Cabinet Committee note the report.

1.     Some concern about poor awareness of the extent and external profile of Eco Schools and the Environmental Education programme, at the same time as an increase in the number of schools requiring environmental education support.

2.     Every Child’s Future Matters: ‘it may not be possible to deliver ECM at all unless sustainable development […] becomes one of its leading considerations’.

3.     Ofsted report on Schools and Sustainability May 2008: key recommendation to ‘give a higher priority to sustainable schools…funding for central and local initiatives… making it an integral part of [school] improvement plans’.

     Sustainable Schools Framework

1.     The Sustainable Schools Framework is a clear, comprehensive government strategy supporting work across ‘eight doorways’. The aim is to develop existing programmes, e.g. Eco Schools, i.e. building on rather than replacing/undermining existing programmes of support. The government have stated that it ‘would like every school to be a sustainable school by 2020’ but has provided little to resource this with. Some schools and authorities engaging with this framework have found the s3 self-audit tool complex and time-consuming. The lack of an award system, like that used in Eco Schools, makes it difficult for schools to celebrate their progress and motivate students to build on success. The framework is non-statutory.

2.     The framework was assessed by the Healthy & Extended Schools Strategy Group in early 2008. It was generally agreed that, although the strategy is ambitious, without central funding from DCSF it remains difficult to justify allocation of resources to its implementation. The Sustainability Team continues to invest in developing its highly successful Eco Schools work, while an informal Internal Sustainable Schools Network is used to disseminate information from DCSF and GOSE to relevant council officers.