Becoming A Sustainable SchoolStakeholders In Success

[Your School Name]

2© 2010 LSx Sustainable Schools Governor Toolkit

Governors & SustainabilityGovernors & Sustainability

3© 2010 LSx Sustainable Schools Governor Toolkit

How does it affect my role? Governors are the strategic leaders of the school and have accountability for ensuring the school complies with the government’s aspiration for all schools to be sustainable schools by 2020

Governors have a duty to challenge and support their school through the process of becoming a sustainable school

Becoming a sustainable school offers every governing body the opportunity to develop new skills for sustainable leadership in an area which guides national policy making

Becoming a sustainable school provides governors with the chance to develop and enhance the school’s shared vision for the future

SLT & SustainabilitySLT & Sustainability

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How does it affect my role? Leadership: Headteachers and senior leadership teams have clear accountability for ensuring the school complies with the governments’ aspiration for all schools to be sustainable schools by 2020

Resource Management: New legislation in the form of the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme means that the school now has a financial obligation to reduce its energy usage, accountable to the Local Authority which could penalise schools that fail to reduce their carbon footprint

Teaching & Learning: Schools using the themes of education for sustainable development provide opportunities for enhanced cross-curriculum learning experiences which interest young people more because they can see its relevance to their own lives, leading to consequent benefits for improved behaviour, attainment and achievement

Every Child Matters / Community Cohesion: Becoming a sustainable school provides schools with an even stronger national strategic framework on which to develop these key strands of school provision

Inspection: Ofsted recognises schools’ achievements in meeting the aims of the National Framework for Sustainable Schools and now reference is made in the SEF for all schools to self-evaluate their progress against clear descriptors

Teachers & SustainabilityTeachers & Sustainability

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How does it affect my role? Pupil focus: ‘Teachers in well established sustainable schools take seriously their task of preparing young people for an uncertain future by identifying ways in all subject areas in which they can contribute to pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to sustainable development.’ (Schools & Sustainability, Ofsted, 2008)

Creative teachers: ‘Sustainable schools are natural innovators in teaching and learning…Motivation is enhanced by using issues that matter to young people, from the state of the local park to global warming, as a context for learning across the curriculum.’ (Sustainable Schools for Pupils, Communities and the Environment, DCSF, 2006)

National curriculum: The National Curriculum already provides programmes of study for citizenship, geography, science, and design and technology where all include strong elements of sustainable development. In addition the seven cross-curriculum dimensions provide many opportunities for learning about sustainability alongside the theme of Global Dimension / Sustainable Development

Supportive teaching resources: The DCSF has produced primary and secondary teaching resources with detailed lesson plans and materials for delivering education for sustainable development at KS1, KS2, KS3 and post 16

Beyond the Core Curriculum: Crucial whole-school activities such as Healthy Schools, Eco-Schools, Growing Schools and ICT Mark provide many opportunities to involve pupils, parents and the wider community with providing solutions to key sustainability challenges

Pupils & SustainabilityPupils & Sustainability

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How does it affect pupils?

Pupil Voice: Of the children responding to the DCSF consultation on education for sustainable development, 63% reported they felt the world was becoming a worse place to live in, with just 11% feeling that it was getting better. (Government Response to the Consultation on the Sustainable Schools Strategy, DCSF 2006

Pupil Voice: ‘Many told us they are worried about climate change, global poverty, war, loss of biodiversity, pollution, traffic, litter and anti-social behaviour. Some voiced their concern that if we don’t act now these challenges could have a dramatic impact on our prosperity – possibly our survival’ (Ibid)

Value of Education For Sustainable Development (ESD): A three year survey in to schools that use education for sustainable development most effectively revealed that ‘Learning about sustainability captured the interest of children and young people because they could see its relevance to their own lives’ (Education for Sustainable Development, Improving Schools – Improving Lives, Ofsted, 2009)

Value of ESD: ‘Pupils responded particularly well to education for sustainability when it gave them the opportunity to take part in practical activities within and outside the classroom and enabled them to research, plan and implement projects that made a clear difference to the school and the local community.’ (Ibid)

Value of ESD: ‘A common characteristic of the lessons observed, across the full range of National Curriculum subjects seen during the survey, was the high level of engagement of the pupils in work they perceived as relevant to their lives and future well-being.’ (Ibid)

Bursars & SustainabilityBursars & Sustainability

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How does it affect my role?

Leadership: Schools that manage their operations sustainably provide a powerful example for their staff and pupils to follow… sustainable schools are efficient schools that consume less energy, water and materials, and produce less waste.’ (Sustainable Schools for Pupils, Communities and the Environment, DCSF, 2006)

Carbon emissions: Schools account for 15% of carbon emissions from the UK public sector. Half arise through electricity and heating; the rest from areas like travel, purchasing and waste. (Carbon Emissions From Schools, Sustainable Development Commission, 2008)

The New Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme: From 1 April 2010 the Government has introduced a new carbon trading scheme for large users of energy. The vital implication of the new legislation for school business managers is that the local authorities’ carbon trading is now directly linked to schools’ financial budgets:

 From 2011-12 local authorities will be in a position to charge any carbon-trading related loss attributable to schools to the Schools Budget.

If schools have contributed to an authority gaining money through the carbon trading scheme, the LA will be encouraged to ensure that the gain due to schools should be added to the Schools Budget (Potential Change to the Schools Finance Regulations (England) in 2011-12 for Carbon Trading DCSF, August 2009)

Energy and water: ‘are a major proportion of non-staff costs in schools…Some schools will have greater scope for savings than others but, overall, more than 20% of energy is wasted, and simple good housekeeping can reduce fuel bills by 10%.’(Year of Action for Sustainable Schools, Top Ten Tips, DCSF)

Funding for improvement: Schools can use both capital and revenue budgets to fund investment in new equipment and processes that will lead to reduced energy usage. (Ibid)

Parents / Carers & SustainabilityParents / Carers & Sustainability

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How does it affect my role?

Climate Change: “The scientific evidence is now overwhelming: climate change presents very serious global risks, and it demands an urgent global response…(UK Government Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, 2006)

Sustainable Citizens: As a citizen you may be well aware of the challenges our society is faced with due to the fact that carbon emissions from human activity are contributing to climate change with unpredictable consequences for ourselves and especially our children. We simply need to find new ways that we can ‘enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life, without compromising the quality of life of future generations’ (Securing The Future, HM Gov, 2005)

Sustainable Schools: Our Governors agree with the government’s aspiration to make all of our school’s ‘sustainable schools’ by 2020 and we are embarking upon a long term plan to become a sustainable school, working with our pupils, staff, parents, carers and everyone within our local and our wider community.

How Parents & Carers Can Help: Taking an interest in and supporting your child’s learning is a major influence on his or her success at school. We see learning about sustainability as a shared journey for us all in which we will be finding out new ways in which we can all make a difference for a more sustainable local community, harnessing the creativity and commitment of our young people.

We Want You: Whether we are trying to develop pupil sustainable development skills & awareness, reduce our energy use and wastage in school, work to ensure more of us walk or cycle, develop healthier lifestyles or learn more about sustainable ways of living, we will only succeed if parents and carers are travelling with us on our journey to sustainability.

Local Authority & SustainabilityLocal Authority & Sustainability

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How does it affect my role?

An Ofsted Perspective: “local authorities and their partners should develop a common vision for a sustainable community in which the contribution of schools is explicit and work together to implement it.”(Schools and Sustainability: A climate for change? Ofsted, 2008)

The New Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme: From 1 April 2010 every local authority will have to buy carbon credits in April of each year equivalent to the amount of carbon consumed by its buildings, including schools. Organisations will then be ranked in a league table based on their performance and energy reduction.

Support for Schools: As the largest part of most LA’s estates are their schools’ buildings & grounds, there is the strongest of imperatives for authorities to:

support individual school’s efforts to reduce carbon emissionspromote efforts by groups of schools to collaborate

The DCSF is providing Government Offices in every English region with funding to enable them to facilitate regional networks that plan, catalyse and co-ordinate support for sustainable schools. (s3+: sustainable schools self-evaluation, DCSF, 2008)

To complement its established ‘S3 School Self Evaluation’ process, the DCSF has developed a complementary tool for local authorities entitled: ‘s3+: Sustainable Schools Self-evaluation for Local Authorities’ to enable them to strategically drive school improvement through sustainable development.