Oaklands School is a proud supporter of the Eco-Schools programme.

Eco-Schools is the largest sustainable schools initiative and operates across the world. It was devised as a result of the United Nations conference on Environment and Development (Rio Earth Summit) in 1992, when it was identified that children and young people need to be involved in the sustainability and environmental protection of our planet.

We are passionate about the environment and sustainability at Oaklands. We have a well-established Eco group which has been working tirelessly towards our Green Flag goals. This group is made up of representatives from each class, responsible for investigating, recording and spreading the Eco word. But our Eco journey is a whole school effort, every pupil is involved in some way in our Eco work.

We started our renewed Eco journey in 2019 by carrying out an Environmental Review of the school and grounds. We looked at all areas from energy and waste to biodiversity and our outdoor spaces. Our Eco reps left no corner of the school un-investigated! They checked for leaky taps, lights left on, litter in the school grounds and what was going into the recycling. They used communication devices to interview Barbara, our fantastic school cook, about where our food comes from and how it’s packaged. While out looking for wildlife in our school grounds, they even spotted a fox.

In our first year we chose to focus on Litter, Waste Minimisation and Biodiversity. Highlights of our work included:

• A No Glitter Litter campaign in the run up to Christmas. We demonstrated and shared ideas for environmentally friendly and glitter free decorations.
• Litter picks. We regularly collect litter from the Millennium Woods and our local environment. We even have pupils out along the cycle paths on bikes and walkers collecting litter.
• We raised awareness of what can and can’t be recycled along with organising efficient and regular recycling around the school.
• We built bug hotels and bird feeders to encourage more wildlife within our school grounds.

Even lockdown didn’t prevent us from continuing with our Eco work. Families shared evidence of all the great things happening at home from cycling to garden projects. We were delighted then to be awarded our first Green Flag in the spring of 2020.

We were awarded our 2nd Green Flag in July 2022. We focussed on Health and Wellbeing, Global Citizenship and Litter. We had lots of exciting projects on the go including a new partnership with two schools in Malawi. Our International School Partnership continues and we will be planning some new and exciting collaborative projects to do together. We are looking forward to now working towards our 3rd Green Flag!

The Eco-Schools International Green Flag Award is designed to encourage pupil-led, whole school action for the environment.