The school gains a realistic picture of their current environmental and sustainability performance inside and outside of the classroom by doing an Environmental Review. The review is led by the Eco-Committee and should enable them to see how well (or not) the school is performing across all nine Eco-School topics.
Please use our FREE Environmental Review template as you will need to submit this document when applying for or renewing your Eco-Schools Green Flag.
Your school should not pay for additional support from third parties in order to carry out Step 2 let your pupils take the lead!
Environmental Review Criteria
See below for the Environmental Review criteria for Eco-Schools.
- An informal Environmental Review covering all nine topics is carried out by pupils (with adult supervision).
- A copy of your Environmental Review must be displayed on your Eco-Board and communicated with the whole school along with detailed plans for activities for improvement.
- It is compulsory for the Green Flag award that your Environmental Review be updated every two years to coincide with your renewal application, however can be carried out every year as best practice.
How to carry out an Environmental Review
You are free to design your environmental review process or follow one of our templates. It must cover all nine topics.
The Environmental Review must be led by the Eco-Committee and include all nine Eco-Schools topics. Some areas may need support from an adult.
It is up to a school whether they wish to design their own Environmental Review or download a review template from our tools and resources.
An Environmental Review should include a series of simple questions. Simple yes/no answers to each question may provide sufficient information but you may wish to use the Environmental Review to gain a greater understanding of the issues facing the school or include recommendations for action.
There are many opportunities to link this activity with the curriculum, particularly with maths, science and IT. Measuring, recording, estimating, displaying data, etc. can all be developed to meet national educational targets, as well as contributing to Eco-Schools.
The Environmental Review step gives your pupils chances to develop scientific, numeracy and communication skills.
There are many different ways to carry out an environmental review and even more ways to share findings from it. Skills and values you might be able nurture include:
- Independent learning
- Scientific survey