Pupils at Ysgol Halfway have proven their green credentials after being awarded a top eco award. We have been awarded their 6th prestigious Platinum Flag Award thanks to the environmental education programme, Eco-Schools.

Eco-Schools is an international programme run in Wales by environmental charity, Keep Wales Tidy and funded by the Welsh Government. The Eco-Schools programme inspires and empowers pupils to be leaders of change in their community, helping them learn about sustainable living and global citizenship while giving them the information and support they need to make changes that will benefit their school, local environment and wider community, such as reducing waste, energy consumption, transport, biodiversity, healthy living and litter issues.

The Eco-Schools programme is an international initiative that encourages pupils to engage with environmental and sustainable development issues.  It provides a highly structured system for the environmental management of schools.

The programme is a learning resource and topic areas include:

• Litter 
• Waste Minimisation 
• Transport
• Healthy Living
• Energy
• Water
• School Grounds
• Global Citizenship.

Pupils take key roles in decision making and participation in order to reduce the environmental impact of their school.  In this way, Eco-Schools extends learning beyond the classroom and develops responsible citizenship attitudes both at home and in the wider community.

The Eco-Schools International Green Flag, awarded to schools with high achievement in their programme, is a recognised and respected eco-label for performance in Education for Sustainable Development. 

The Eco-Schools programme is a long-term activity, with the award being re-assessed and renewed every two years.

The Eco-Schools Programme is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, the Countryside Council for Wales and Waste Awareness Wales.

Where did the programme come from?

It was at the UN Conference on Environment & Development (Rio Earth Summit) in1992 that a need to involve young people in finding solutions to environmental and sustainable development challenges at local level was identified.

In Wales the programme is managed by Keep Wales Tidy.