Congratulations!!!
Fantastic work Ms Yeung!
We are very pleased to tell you that you and your Eco-Committee at Priory Primary School have been awarded an Eco-Schools Green Flag.
We reviewed your application and noted the following:
We like your approach to selecting the Eco-Committee members by a democratic voting system whereby members are nominated by their classmates and school staff. We like that you encourage the students to take minutes at meetings. This approach demonstrates an educational and inclusive approach to the programme.
It is great that you have encouraged the students to take ownership of the project and that you are also promoting democratic values in this way! We also like how the Eco-Committee members communicate with each other and to internal and external stakeholders through using a variety of methods including reporting back to classes and through assemblies.
You also use your lovely colourful and eye-catching Eco-Board and the way you use your school social media. It is great that you communicate with each other through using a variety of methods including through school newsletters. This is really informing and involving and shows how valued and embedded the Eco-Schools programme is in your school. It was really great to read how your Environmental Review provided the basis for the projects in your Action Plan.
The Environmental Review also clearly highlighted areas that you needed to improve on and it is great that your overall approach generated ideas for changes that you could make, as this demonstrates a reflective and considered approach to your Eco-Schools work. It was great to hear that through completing the environmental review that your children raised their awareness of issues pertinent to their everyday lives and how the actions that they themselves and others are taking could have either a positive or negative impact on the environment. It is wonderful to hear that the outcome of the review gave the children a clear starting point and highlighted key areas which they could then provide actions for.
You’ve clearly taken efforts to connect your litter, marine and waste projects happening across the school and embedding work into curriculum and everyday school life in a really impactful way. This is really inspiring and clever. Your action plan is great! The actions that you planned out were really SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound). This is important as it helps to achieve progress and empower your Eco-Committee.
It was also great to see accountability and monitoring and evaluation clearly marked in your Action Plan and that you identify accountability and monitoring and evaluation activities in detail. Excellent work! We also thought your Eco-Code ideas were fun and inclusive! They are punchy and creative, setting out tangible and accessible calls to action your whole school can get behind! Your curriculum links were really creative. For example, in science lessons your children learn to work scientifically, observing and measuring how different animals, including humans, grow.
You ensure they will be able to describe the importance for humans of a healthy lifestyle. You back this up with practical kinaesthetic learning for example with children taking part in Go Scoot/bikeability and pedestrian skills sessions to develop their ability to avoid using cars while still travelling to school safely. This kind of pedagogical work encourages pupils to make links between theory and the real world, and hopefully approach topics in a fresh and relevant way, and is a great way to encourage children to take ownership of local environmental issues.
You've also clearly looked both internally and externally and engaged with a wide range of different stakeholders, including your work with Keep Britain Tidy for the Great British School Clean, with Duracell for the Big Battery Hunt, with local MPs and members of the council, and also with the Rooted Hull Thrive Trust ECO Lead and group. This kind of work is a great example of the collaborative approach we will all need to adopt to combat pollution in the environment - your application made us feel really positive for the future! Your achievements this year have been wonderful! For example, at least one bag of litter was collected by each class during each litter pick you did. We love to hear that each classroom across the school has a paper recycling bin in place and that monitors are in place to check that these are being used and to regularly empty them into the outdoor recycling bin.
You collected batteries and have made efforts to reduce use of cars when travelling to and from school.
This all truly makes the Eco-Schools initiative an integral part of your school life. Congratulations to everyone for the great work you have managed to do.
You should all be very proud of your amazing work and the great application you have submitted.
You've really earned your Green Flag Bronze Award accreditation!