A member of Dales Academies Trust
Eco-Schools is a global programme engaging millions of children across 64 different countries, making it the largest environmental schools programme in the world.
18 million children attend an Eco-School worldwide, that’s equal to the total population of Chile! Eco-Schools is operated globally by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), and was launched in 1994 in response to the 1992 UN Rio Earth Summit.
Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy is the Eco-Schools National Operator for England, where more than 18,000 schools are registered and 1,200 schools currently hold the internationally recognised Eco-Schools Green Flag. We are very proud to be are one of those schools.
The programme provides a framework for learning and action around ten topics – marine, biodiversity, energy, litter, global citizenship, healthy living, school grounds, transport, waste and water.
The programme is pupil-led and encourages whole school involvement. It also encourages closer links between schools and their communities. It offers many benefits for individual pupils, developing their knowledge and skills and improving their well-being. There are also many benefits for schools, with an added bonus of saving money.
Forest Schools
Forest Schools is a Scandinavian initiative designed to encourage and inspire individuals of any age through an innovative, long term, educational approach to outdoor play and learning in a woodland environment. As a school we are very fortunate in having our own woodland area and staff trained to deliver the Forest Schools programme.
Forest Schools is offered to all children, and also as an after-school club activity. Sessions are designed around the needs of the group to ensure that they are learner-led. Sessions are designed around a theme, themes are sometimes subtle such as evolving or exploring the site or more obvious such as butterflies, spies, fairies or nature investigators. Many areas of the National Curriculum are intrinsically covered, in the Forest Schools experience without the programmes needing to be curriculum led. Teamwork skills are developed through games and activities. Individual skills and self-esteem are heightened throughout activities such as hide and seek, shelter building, tool skills, lighting fires or environmental art, the list is endless. Each activity develops intra and inter-personal skills as well as practical and intellectual skills.
