Eco-Schools Green Flag Award Winners!

We were absolutely delighted to receive the news that our Eco-School group have been awarded with the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award.  This is a tremendous accolade that they have worked really hard to achieve by engaging in several projects from recycling, energy reduction and community engagement. Well done to the whole team, we are very proud of you all!

The Eco-Schools programme was established in 1994 and is now delivered in more than 70 countries across the globe. More than 1 million pupils attended an Eco-School in England in 2022-23.

Here are our wonderful Eco Team and the Green Flag Award, which is now proudly displayed in our school foyer:

You can read the full report from Eco-School below:

Congratulations!!!

Fantastic work Dr Breen and the Balshaw’s Eco Council!

We are very pleased to tell you that you and your Eco-Committee at Balshaw's Church of England High School have been successful in meeting the requirements for the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award.

We reviewed your application and noted the following:

It’s very impressive that you have formed such a large Eco-Committee. It shows that young people in your school are aware of environmental issues and committed to being active and creating positive change. This knowledge and attitude has provided your school with excellent foundations for the many successes that you’ve achieved this year. It would be great to see more adult member support in the future. We love the inclusive approach you’ve taken to setting your Eco-Committee. This sets a positive and encouraging tone for your work, which supports a collaborative and community ethos, vital in maximising impacts. Great work!

We loved reading the quotes provided by members of the Eco-Committee. They sound like very impressive individuals and their quotes demonstrated how passionate they are about improving their local community and protecting our planet. It is fantastic to read that you have been able to actively involve your PTA as well as Governors with the work of your Eco-Champions. It’s great to read that completing the Environmental Review helped your Eco-Committee appreciate existing initiatives as well as identifying areas for improvement. It was great to read that the Environmental Review provided plenty of ideas for creating positive impacts for your school. It’s clear your Eco-Committee are constantly considering what actions they can take to improve their local community and benefit our planet. Your Eco-Committee didn’t let any tricky questions on the Environmental Review defeat them, instead they sought out other experts in their school such as your business manager and members of Chartwells to help answer questions which demonstrates their resilience and team ethos. The comments on your Environmental Review were thoughtful and gave our team a glimpse into the discussion that took place amongst young people – well done! We love that your Environmental Review as well as interests of the wider school community inspired the choice of projects in your Action Plan. It’s a strong approach to work on things that will produce visible impact and change, and a great example of critical thinking. We admire your commitment, demonstrated by continuing your hard work on the topics that held the most importance within the school community.

It was also wonderful to read you had supplemented your environmental learning with a trip to the North-West Sustainability Conference – the day sounded brilliant! It is fantastic that you were able to plan to implement projects such as continuing to improve your own Memorial Garden to create a rainbow space as well as campaigning for a new roof with solar panels. This shows you have an ambitious and assured Eco-Committee, which has no doubt inspired others with their work. Your Curriculum Link examples are imaginative, practical and fun, making environmental education accessible and engaging, well done! This is a great way to add context to your EcoSchools work, it means young people at your school are given the opportunity to learn about important environmental issues and then the chance to work on these issues – a great dual approach. We absolutely loved seeing the evidence you provided of your completed session, and it would be fantastic to see more, all involved should be incredibly proud of their achievements.

You have placed a lot of emphasis on informing as many members of your school community as possible in your Eco-Schools work and this is a strength of your application. You have made significant efforts to involve all pupils and your wider school community, maximising the impacts of your Eco-Schools work and benefitting your local area and our planet. It was amazing to see how your Eco-Committee maximised the impacts of their Eco-Schools work by reaching out to their wider school community via their newsletter. You have worked with a variety of different individuals and organisations such as FairTrade as well as Chartwells, relying on their expertise and passion to enrich and inform your Eco-Schools journey. No doubt this was a mutually beneficial experience for all, as these individuals and organisations must have also been inspired by your dedicated Eco-Committee. It is also commendable how involved your Eco-Council has been with your PTA and campaigning, this is a fantastic achievement and an amazing opportunity for students to develop a variety of skills. Your greatest successes link clearly to the experience of your pupils. It was great that you were able to successfully obtain a fantastic amount of PTA funding and raise community awareness for your memorial garden rejuvenation project too! This is what the best forms of climate action are about – impactful but achievable things that create a positive experience and prompt more action. We love this! Managing and resourcing changes is a common and big challenge to face, especially when dealing with outside agencies to deliver items such as recycling bins. Your actions have faced this challenge and made brilliant choices to adapt to them. SMART choices and a committed Eco-Committee have overcome any obstacles and you should be proud of your achievements this year.

We love your collaborative approach to creating an Eco-Code, this approach has allowed your Eco-Committee to take ownership and create a final code that will be treasured by everyone at your school. Your Eco-Code is amazingly informative and a direct call to action for your school community, we love that you were able to use BALSHAWS RESPECT for your fantastic acrostic. It’s a great reflection of the ethos your Eco-Committee have created. It has been an absolute pleasure to read through your application, you are a wonderful ambassador for the Eco-Schools programme and we are delighted, without hesitation, to award you an Eco-Schools Green Flag with Merit – congratulations!

We are really excited to be planning the rejuvenation of our Memorial Garden and would be very grateful for any donations that can be made via our GoFundMe page here.

We were thrilled to hear that the Eco-Schools Team will be planting a tree too, see the information below for more details!

As a thank you gift, this year the Eco-Schools Team are working with JUST ONE Tree to plant a tree for every school, college, or nursery that achieves a Green Flag. During the next rainy season, your seedling will be transported to its new home where it will remove up to 308 kgs of carbon from the atmosphere during its lifetime.

You can read more about our Eco and Fairtrade Committee here and learn more about Eco-Schools here.