Eco -School

Blackpool Eco School 

We are passionate about educating our children about the importance of environmental protection as part of the curriculum offered at Blackpool. 

We are very proud that in 2023 we were awarded the The Eco-Schools Green Flag with Merit for our achievements in our environmental work, building on our success of first attaining the Green Flag award in 2022.

We are focused on empowering our young people to lead environmental education and action in their school, local community and beyond. 

There are multiple reasons we have decided to embark on the journey to Eco-Schools Green Flag. Firstly, our planet (and all life on it) is already beginning to feel the catastrophic effects of climate change, plastic pollution, biodiversity loss and a myriad of other environmental challenges. We want our pupils to be aware of the challenges our planet faces, and will continue to face throughout their lifetimes. We don’t want them to avoid or shy away from these challenges: we want to engage them in conversations about this, and we want to provide them with the skills needed to tackle these challenges directly. Our hope is that by doing this we will empower our pupils with the passion and skills to protect our planet now and throughout their lifetimes, including as they grow to become leaders, decision-makers and educators themselves. Alongside benefitting our planet, we also hope it will benefit our pupils - independent research has found that pupil participation in the Eco-Schools programme leads to; increased confidence, development of leadership skills, improved behaviour and greater motivation at school. It will help our school by consuming less water, using less energy and producing less waste, which creates financial savings for schools which can then be spent on important educational resources.

Our dedicated Eco-Committee, who represent our school community have carried out an environmental audit, created an action plan and carried out projects to help us achieve our Green Flag.  

2023-2024

A theme in our committee meetings over the last few years has been the sustainability and support for local wildlife on our school grounds, particularly for pollinators.

Our targets this year reflect small but powerful changes we can make in our school grounds to support wildlife of all sizes, from bird feeders made of recycled bottles, to creating hedgehog houses and bug hotels. 

2022-2023

Having achieved our Eco-Schools' Green Flag in 2022, we went one further and achieved the Green Flag Award with Merit in 2023.

After conducting our Environmental Review, we are focussed on the areas of Transport, Energy and Marine.  You can find the 2022-2023 Action Plan below.

To do this we have started monitoring the school's energy usage ahead of making plans to reduce it, such as 'Lights Off Days' and better awareness of which devices and rooms need to be kept on or off more often.

Towards the end of Spring Term we launched initiatives linked to Transport and Marine, with resources to aid in beach cleans and starting dialogue with the local council and Police about setting up walking buses to school, including safer road conditions on the main road near school.

We also built on top of areas we have shown strength in, by reintroducing the litter picking club and ordering more flora to plant on school grounds to encourage local wildlife to flourish, planting 30 trees on the school field and 30 bush saplings near the Unit 2 outside area.

Our incredible Eco-Committee have been recognised with an international accreditation this academic year, recognising their amazing work in making our school more environmentally friendly and raising eco-awareness in fellow pupils.

Eco-Schools is an international education programme that prompts young people to explore sustainability and climate change and take action.

Our Eco-Committee team collaborated with Mrs Cox to conduct an environmental review, assessing how eco-friendly our school is. They reviewed everything from the school’s recycling practices, to energy usage, to how environmental themes are covered in classrooms. Building on their findings, the pupils and Mrs Cox planned a year of activities that would up their green-credentials.

The group connected their work to 3 Eco-Schools topics: Biodiversity, Energy and Transport

Activities included introducing more plant life to the school grounds, reducing energy usage in school and more pupils riding their bikes to school.

Here are a few quotes from the children on how being a part of the Eco-Committee helped them in the last year.

“It made me feel better and that I was doing something about the issues around the environment.” – Isla

“In the first year of eco-committee, we worked really hard to get the flag. It helped with our perseverance to learn.” – Albie

 “It made me feel better because I was being more eco-friendly to all the animals and to keep them safe.” – Isla

“It really made me feel very happy that I was supporting the environment and it helped with my learning.” – Alex

“It made me feel happy that our school was helping the environment.” - Felix

Eco-Schools England Manager, Adam Flint, said: “Earning an Eco-Schools Green Flag Award takes passion, commitment and a desire to make a difference. Pupils should be proud of their great work. They’re an inspiration and it makes us feel heartened and positive about the future of our planet.”

To learn more about Eco-Schools head to www.eco-schools.org.uk 

Well done Eco-Committee.