Flying the Green Flag in Highland
Interest in the environment is flourishing in the Highlands, with 183 schools registered to the international award scheme, Eco-Schools. 23 schools have achieved the top award – the Green Flag - while 40 have silver awards, and 64 have bronze awards.
Leading the way in Highland is Elgol Primary in Skye, which now has increased its tally to four Green Flags, which entitles it a permanent Green Flag. Close behind is Dochgarroch Primary, near Inverness, with three flags. And, in early June, Alness Academy became the first Highland secondary school to achieve the Green Flag.
Once a school has achieved its first Green Flag, it has to maintain its environmental performance, and then be checked every two years by external assessors until its fourth and permanent Green Flag level, as demonstrated by Elgol Primary School.
It is four years since the programme took off in Highland when 30 schools registered for an initiative funded and supported by The Highland Council’s Education Culture and Sport Service and CSV’s Action 4 Sustainability project.
The Eco-Schools programme is led by pupils themselves, and aims to have the whole school involved in the running of activities to improve the school’s environmental performance and school environment, with the help of the wider community. To get an Eco-Schools Green Flag, schools need to show that they’ve really integrated ‘eco’ behaviour across the life of the school, and to demonstrate that they’ve covered three or four of the nine environmental topic areas thoroughly in the process. Topics include litter, waste minimisation, energy use, water use, transport, health and wellbeing, school grounds, biodiversity and the international perspective – ‘Sustaining our World’.
Action 4 Sustainability project co-ordinator, Elanor Gordon said: “The programme provides a structured yet flexible programme which makes it easy for changing behaviour for the good of the planet. By allowing pupils to take responsibility for leading on the programme it helps young people to develop other skills and confidence, as well as the knowledge they need to survive the challenges of key global issues such as climate change and peak oil. But most of all, the programme is fun.”
Margaret Young, head teacher at Poolewe Primary, which gained its 1st Green Flag in February this year, said: “What is great is that the pupils love what we do and it is part of their day to tackle eco jobs. I say jobs but they don’t see it that way - it has become ‘what we do’ and feels quite natural.”
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