Eco Council
Olive Hill have elected new members for their Eco-Council. The Eco Council work together to provide the tools to promote and develop sustainability throughout our school. We involve teachers, pupils and members of the community to ensure that everyone works together to improve the quality of our school and encourage environmentally friendly changes.
As an Eco-School we:
Elect new Eco Council members annually
Hold regular meetings
Choose specific areas in the school to work on
Set appropriate and achievable targets
Introduce whole school projects
Link our ideas to our curriculum work
Check and monitor that successful improvements are being made
Keep the whole school and community up to date with progress
The Eco Council framework consists of seven elements:
Eco-Committee
Environmental Review
Action Plan
Involving the whole school and wider community
Linking to the curriculum
Monitoring and evaluation
Eco-Code
This framework supports schools working on different environmental and sustainable topics so we look at these areas in our meetings, along with how to save energy and water as well as reducing litter and waste. A Display Energy Certificate (DEC) is displayed and a Green Procurement Policy has been created. We also think of new ways to keep ourselves and our school healthy.
In addition to these topics we work with local schools and the wider community. Currently, we have formed links with Leasowes Park in Halesowen and Bishop's Wood Centre in Worcester.
Being an Eco School raises the profile of our school in the wider community. It enhances the curriculum and gets the whole school united behind something important. We have achieved our Eco Schools Bronze Award and are currently working towards our Silver Award. Our ultimate aim is to achieve our Green Flag Award!
Another exciting whole school project that is implemented throughout school is recycling paper. Twice a week, Eco-Councillors collect recycling boxes full of paper which would otherwise be put into the rubbish bin.
Eco Council is facilitated by Mrs White and Miss Macaskill and led by the children of Olive Hill. We are also delighted to welcome Mrs Waters to the team, who will also be supporting us with the running of our Eco Council.