November Newsletter
Hello Eco-Coordinator!
Welcome to the November Eco-Schools Newsletter! In this month’s newsletter, we’re delighted to announce the winners of the 2025-26 Eco-Schools Awards, let you know that Cut Your Carbon is now live, and share plenty more ideas and inspiration to get stuck into this winter. Let’s go!
Cut Your Carbon Now Live!
Our annual Cut Your Carbon campaign is now live, and there’s still time to get involved! If your school community is up for taking on simple challenges that can make a real difference for our planet, click to get involved.
Great Big School Clean – Save the Date!
The Great Big School Clean 2027 returns from 12-28 March! In 2026, 585,038 litter heroes pledged to collect 451,887 bags of litter from their communities, helping to remove an incredible 1,695 tonnes of litter from the environment. If you’d like to support local wildlife, improve your community, and empower young people to take environmental action, make sure to mark the dates in your school or nursery calendar now!
Eco-Schools Training
There’s still time to book your place on Eco-Schools Training Session 1! Our final training session for schools takes place on Thursday 12th November, with the final nursery session a week later on 19th November. If you’ve already attended Session 1, registration for Session 2 is now open. Click to secure your place!
Eco-Projects: Talk, Play, Act! Recycling
This month’s spotlight project is aimed at nurseries and early years settings. Over the summer, we developed five Talk, Play, Act! guides covering Recycling, Trees, Litter, Fruit and Vegetables, and Travel. This month, we’re shining a spotlight on Talk, Play, Act! Recycling.
From recommended reads and discussion prompts to junk modelling and sorting recycling, this simple, easy-to-use guide is a great way to introduce little learners to the importance of reducing waste. Click below to take a look, or explore the other guides in our Eco-Themed Early Years Activities resource, available when you log in and begin an application.
Schools, don’t forget to check out our school projects, which are also available when you log in, begin an application, and head to our Step 3 resources.
Eco-Schools Awards 2025-2026
We were blown away by the quality of entries in our annual Eco-Schools Awards. The competition was incredibly tight, and we would have loved to choose multiple winners in every category… Deciding wasn’t easy, but we’re delighted to announce this year’s winners below.
Each winner demonstrated exceptional impact, innovation, and tenacity, and we’d like to congratulate them all on their achievements. We’ll be reaching out over the next few days to arrange delivery of additional certification.
We’ve also randomly selected a winner of our early-bird prize: a Niche Environmental Bee Post. This prize draw was open to schools that had begun an application and achieved 30 points by 1 November. Congratulations to Hawkedon Primary School, Reading. We’ll be in touch in the coming days!
- Biodiversity Award: Anston Greenlands Primary School, Sheffield.
- Energy Award: Kingsbury Green Primary School, London.
- Global Citizenship Award: Wells Hall Primary School, Sudbury.
- Healthy Living Award: Mont a l’Abbé School, Jersey.
- Litter Award: Little Tots Montessori Nursery Stoney Heath, Tadley.
- Marine Award: Grimsdell, Mill Hill Pre Prep, London.
- School Grounds Award: Earlsdon Primary School, Coventry.
- Transport Award: Oatlands Infant School, Harrogate.
- Waste Award: Trinity Sixth Form Academy, Halifax.
- Water Award: Rushmore Primary School, London.
- Eco-Schools of the Year: Kindred Hauxton Nursery and Pre-school Cambridge, Welford Sibbertoft & Sulby Endowed Primary School Northampton, Oakfield Primary School Wickford, Woodford County High School for Girls Woodford Green, The Deaf Academy Exmouth.
What Else is Happening?
- It’s Bonfire Night tomorrow and, while we love the excitement of fireworks and communities coming together, it can be a stressful and dangerous time for wildlife and pets. Hedgehogs are particularly at risk, often seeking shelter in bonfires before they are lit. We encourage you to share this message with your school or nursery community and remind everyone to check bonfires carefully before lighting them. The British Hedgehog Preservation Society has helpful advice and guidance.
- The Royal Society’s Partnership Grants scheme funds schools and colleges up to £3,000 to work in partnership with STEM professionals to run an investigative STEM project. The application deadline is 30th November and it includes their Tomorrow’s Climate Scientist extension which specifically finds schools researching climate change and biodiversity topics. Previously funded projects include Can AI beat the experts at growing a successful garden? and Can a college recycle its waste using bacteria?
- COP31 kicks off in Antalya, Turkey next week, and InterClimate Network has created a ready-to-use resource that brings a UN-style climate conference directly into your school. Suitable for upper primary and secondary pupils and delivered over three sessions, the resource helps students learn about COP, research participating countries, and take on the role of delegates coming together to deliver their own climate conference.
- Thursday 19 November is STEM Learning’s Protect Our Planet Day. Delivered in partnership with the European Space Agency and UK Space Agency, the day offers opportunities to connect live with inspirational experts and take part in interactive sessions. With a packed programme of activities running throughout the day, there’s plenty to get stuck into, including learning how space agencies help protect our planet and exploring green careers.
- Our Marine topic can be one of the trickier areas to explore if your school or nursery isn’t located near the coast. That’s why we’re delighted to share the Sea-Changers BMT Next Wave Fund, which aims to help children and young people with limited access to the coast connect with the marine environment through conservation activities. Small grants of up to £500 are available throughout the year, and projects engaging children and young people may also benefit from additional support from BMT employees.
- We love this initiative from the British Trust for Ornithology, which aims to provide birdwatching equipment and guides to young people across the UK who cannot afford them. Young people and schools can request equipment, helping more children connect with and learn about nature through birdwatching. Perhaps more importantly, applications are currently outstripping donations. So, if you’re already equipped, a shout-out to your local community for donations to the scheme could help the next generation of birdwatchers!
Congratulations once again to our amazing Eco-Schools Award winners, and to everyone who entered this year’s Eco-Schools Awards. We can’t overstate how inspirational your applications were. In fact, as we develop new Eco-Schools projects and resources, you may spot some of your ideas making an appearance, because we felt they were simply too good not to share with others!
Have a wonderful November, we’ll be back in December with more news, inspiration, and opportunities to get involved.
