North West Sustainable Schools

Sustainable Schools national background

The National Framework for Sustainable Schools was created as a means to engage and assist all schools in addressing the issues of sustainable development and to encourage education for sustainable development (ESD) to be embedded in schools. The framework is made up of 8 Doorways:

These can be summarised as 'Care for self, care for others and care for the environment' and has three cross-cutting themes, Campus, Community and Curriculum. This encourages schools to engage leadership, teaching and non teaching staff, young people and the local community in the agenda.

North West Sustainable Schools

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DCSF released funds to the regions in 2007 to raise awareness of Sustainable Schools: the north west chose to create a full time post to promote the agenda with schools and Local Authorities (LAs), to create networks in the sub-regions to share good practice, run training around each doorway with those able to effect change, and to support LA engagement. There has been training for school management including bursars, a governors' conference working in partnership with NWCOGs and work has been undertaken with networks such as extended schools, the Diocese, and other relevant networks.
Our main objectives have been to connect with and try to support existing ESD networks across the region and, where there were none, to develop them, and to ensure that existing networks working with schools are aware of the agenda.

Activities

North West Sustainable Schools brought together environmental education officers and ESD practitioners from across the ten Greater Manchester LAs to collaborate and run a Sustainable Schools conference. This event brought schools together from across the sub-region to learn from each other and share their best practice. It has also initiated a Greater Manchester network of expertise.

2009-2011

In 2009 our objectives have slightly shifted with more emphasis on engaging LAs in a wider process. Embedding the National Framework for Sustainable Schools is an excellent means for LAs to address a multitude of agendas: not only does it focus on environmental sustainability, but it creates tangible links for the Children and Young People directorates. Furthermore, it helps build stronger and safer communities, has inclusion, health and well-being as core drivers, is proven to aid school attendance and levels of achievement, and has huge potential to drive forward CO2 savings. Added to this LAs are discovering that schools emit between 50-60% of the carbon for which they are responsible and, with schools being a part of the Carbon Reduction Commitment, it is imperative that schools become communities of good practice around energy use and energy efficiency. Consequently, North West Sustainable Schools is encouraging LAs to baseline and work with this agenda in an internal, cross-directorate manner to ensure that LA services not only understand the issues but can help schools deliver the agenda with greater ease.

For further information, or to subscribe to the North West Sustainable Schools newsletter, please contact Raichael Lock.

Downloads

For materials relating to the Sustainable Schools National Framework and related publications and information go to www.teachernet.gov.uk/sustainableschools

For more information about this work please contact sustainableschools@dep.org.uk

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