17 September 2022
NGHS is delighted to announce that we have secured Eco-Schools Green Flag status, with Merit! We congratulate our Eco-Committee (SustaiNGHS) and Mrs Gill for their hard work in securing this flag of success. You can read excerpts from the report below:
It was wonderful to see how completing your Environmental Review helped to raise the level of awareness in your school and helped your Eco-Committee to identify the issues and spot gaps in your school's existing environmental activity. But equally important is that it helped you to recognise the great work that you were already doing. This helps to keep up the good activity whilst making you feel empowered to do different things. We love this! We love the range of activities that you and your Eco-Committee planned for delivery.
You’ve clearly embedded the ethos of the Eco-Schools programme far and wide in your school! We love your ambition in tackling some of the areas where you scored lowest in the Environmental Review. This shows you have a confident Eco-Committee dedicated to maximising their impacts. We’re really impressed at how you’ve linked environmental issues to a variety of curriculum areas. We loved seeing the excellent examples of your teaching PowerPoints on deserts and rain forests. This is a great example of layering in sustainability and climate change into your studies. We loved reading about how you had incorporated learning about global issues not only into the Geography and Science Curriculum (most common ones) in your school, but also into other areas such as D&T. Great work! A challenge for next year might be expanding this to incorporate these issues into other areas of learning like English, Maths or Art!
Your Eco-Board is great. Your board is incredibly visual and engaging and promotes your work in a very attractive way. It’s also good to see your Eco-Committee members on the board. This is a great way to raise their esteem and make their schoolmates feel like they can approach them and get involved with your Eco-Schools work! We love how active your Eco-Committee was in communicating their activities school-wide with both assembly and class feedback and use of Tutor time, the school newsletter and social media as well as the Eco-board itself. These all combine to make a great approach! We love that your pupils have taken their great work beyond the school gates and into their local community with your involvement with the Sustainable Newport Group, a whole-town initiative aiming to achieve Plastic Free Status – outstanding effort!
We are certain that your pupils will have greatly benefitted from your involvement with such outside organisations as Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Surfers Against Sewage, Telford & Wrekin Council and the Marine Conservation Society. The parent quote is a great testament to the work that you are doing with your Eco-Committee, that they are taking their Eco-Schools work home with them and getting their families on board is something to be proud of! I hope you and your Eco-Committee take great pride in your achievements, when listed it's surprising how many there are – however, the improvements to your school environment with the litter and waste reducing and recycling initiatives and, most of all, your superb Sustainable Newport contribution (we loved that) all nicely stand out! Everyone involved should be incredibly proud of the changes they have made. Your Eco-Code is really smart and concise. It's a great message and its punchy nature will definitely help it be processed by everyone passing by your Eco-Board. Congratulations to everyone for the great work you have managed to do, earning your Green Flag with Merit in style. You should all be very proud of your work and the application you have submitted!