Eco-Schools Northern Ireland

Most young people care deeply about environmental issues and wish to make a positive change in the environment around them. The Eco-Schools programme provides an ideal way for fostering environmental awareness in the entire school in a way that links to many curriculum subjects. The primary aim of the Eco-Schools programme is to educate and empower young people to make positive decisions and become change makers for an environmentally sustainable world.

TOPICS

There are 11 Eco-Schools Topics -

Biodiversity
Climate Action
Energy
Global Perspective
Healthy Living
Litter
Marine
Outdoor Learning
Transport
Waste
Water

It is essential to study 3 of the Eco-Schools topics in order to achieve the Green Flag award.

Hover over the Eco / Healthy Schools pencil on the left to view a selection of Eco-Schools Topics that we have studied. Click on each topic to see what we have been up to.

AWARDS

There are 3 levels within the Eco-Schools Programme -

Bronze
Silver
Green Flag

OUR SCHOOL

We have been participating in the Eco-Schools programme for over 15 years and were one of the first schools in Belfast to be awarded the coveted Green Flag Award. We have recently obtained our sixth Eco-Schools Green Flag award. Each Green Flag is renewed every 2 years. We have worked on several Eco-Schools topics over the years ensuring environmental awareness and education for Sustainable development is a part of the life and ethos of our school. We have seen how passionate our children are about environmental issues and how they want to help make our school, local environment and wider world a better place.

Our 2022-24 topics are Global Perspective, Waste and Biodiversity. We have pledged to use refillable water bottles through the "Refill for free, Save our Sea" campaign by NI water. Ms Mc Fadden applied for and received a Pollinator Garden Grant which has allowed us to create spaces in the Nursery and Primary School for minibeasts to thrive. We have created Homes For Nature with a Log Pile, Stone Pile and Bamboo Cane Bee Homes. Children are increasingly aware of the significant role they can play in making our world a better place.

The Eco-Committee Process

At the beginning of each school year, our Year 4 children take part in the Eco-Committee election process. The children are given the opportunity to voice their ideas and views on environmental issues and how to make positive changes in the environment around them to their classmates. Each class will then vote for their class representative who will become a member of the Eco-Committee until they reach Primary 7. The Eco-Committee members also include Miss McQuaid and Mrs Sloan.

Meet the 2022-2023 Eco-Committee