The Eco-Code

Your Eco-Code should be your mission statement. It should demonstrate, in a clear and imaginative way, your school's core values and commitment towards improving its environmental performance and striving towards a sustainable future.

The Eco-Code should be linked to your Action Plan, covering real actions that pupils and staff intend to carry out. This task is also ideal to link into literacy curriculum work.

The Eco-Code should be displayed in every classroom and on the Eco-Schools notice board, in communal areas and in the staff room.  The content of the Code should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it continues to reflect the school's eco aims and targets as new issues are addressed.

It is vital that pupils feel they have had involvement in developing this code, as this will give them a greater sense of ownership and responsibility for the programme and its values.

What form should the Eco Code take?

The format of the Code is entirely up to the school. You have a license to be as creative as you like. Ideally, it could be a list of statements, an acrostic, song/rap or poem. The format should be appropriate for the age and ability of the pupils concerned.

TOP TIP: As outlined above, the Eco-Code can be an excellent ‘hook’ for informing and involving the whole school.  Some schools have turned their Eco-Code into a ‘rap’ or slogan that all students and staff can use.  A further development of this is the use of a catchy ‘mnemonic’ or ‘acronym’, where by the first letters of each line of the Eco-code spell out an aspect of the code.

For a list of further resources, please go to the Resources section of this site.

To contact an Eco-Schools Officer, please fill in the form on the Contact page.