Pupils and staff at Cullingworth Village Primary School are today celebrating their success at meeting the requirements for the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award.
The Eco-schools Green Flag is a special award which is given to schools that take a proactive approach in making their schools and communities more environmentally friendly. It provides a simple, seven-step framework that empowers young people to make a difference in their school, local community and beyond. Schools connect their activities to three or more of the ten eco-schools topics. These topics break large, global issues like climate change into more manageable and directed themes that prompt young people to consider environmental changes that they can make in their school and everyday lives.
Crucially a team of children led the project at Cullingworth primary completing an environmental review against the framework to see where the school is already excelelnign and making plans of action to support areas of improvement work. The children carefully considered how they would involve the entire school in their planned Eco-Schools’ activities which was commended as achieving maximum impact in raising awareness amongst the whole school community.
The achievement of the Green flag award is a visible indication of a school’s commitment to learning for sustainability and an internationally recognised accreditation for excellence in sustainable education.
As part of the project, the school have planted over 1,000 trees on the school site and participated in the ‘tree for every child’ initiative. During the recent OFSTED visit the inspector commented on the tree planting taking place and said this was a ‘positive example of pupils leading a project and learning to become active and productive citizens’.
The children at Cullingworth also benefit from using excellent outside facilities and have the opportunity to work with a skilled forest schools practitioner enhancing their understanding of nature and care for the environment.
Cullingworth Primary is located in the thriving village of Cullingworth on the outskirts of Bradford and is part of the successful Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust which leads a family of thirteen primaries, four secondaries and one through school across the region to deliver high quality education within the context of Christian belief and practice.
Charlie, a member of the Eco Committee, said: ‘’I joined because I wanted to help to improve the
environment.’’
Elena O ‘Hare, the teacher who supports the committee “The committee of democratically elected members have worked tireslessly towards achieving this award, even giving up their weekends to plant trees and collect acorns.They have really made a positive difference to our environment and I am very proud of their achievements.I would also like to thank YORGreenCIC for their support with the Tree for every Child initiative.”
Cathy Isaac, Headteacher at the school said:
‘’Working towards this award takes passion, commitment and a desire to make a difference.I am incredibly
proud of the pupils for leading this important work and for the staff supporting this project ’’
Carol Dewhurst OBE, Chief Executive Officer at Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust, added:
“BDAT has committed to the ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, with five priority action
areas driving this change. We are committed to investing in our buildings to make them more efficient,
reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, investigating our supply chains and operations, reducing wastage, and
encouraging sustainable travel.
We currently have 5 schools within the Trust, including Cullingworth, working towards the eco-school green
flag status, and the work that has been completed by the studnt eco-committees has been outstanding and
has had real impact.
As part of our Environmental Sustainability Strategy, from September 2023 BDAT will be investing into the
eco -schools programme for all 19 schools within the Trust family , so that we can work together to make a
positive impact in all our schools, local communities and beyond.