Bronze Award criteria

STEPS 1, 2 and 3 ONLY

On average schools take around 3 months to move from registration to Bronze, this first stage is about setting the foundations to becoming a fully fledged Eco-School.

Step 1: Eco-Committee

• Pupils volunteer and are nominated by their peers to be on the Eco-Committee. This includes all KS1, KS2, KS3 and KS4 year groups in the school. Nurseries, colleges and specialist schools can adapt their Eco-Committee to suit their setting.
  NB. It is not necessary to re-elect the pupils on the Eco-Committee every academic year, allow pupils to remain on the Eco-Committee if they wish, so they are able to see the impacts of their actions.
• Pupils are given the opportunity to invite along non-teaching staff to join their meetings to help them with a particular topic they have chosen to work on.
• There is a representation from the parents or governing body on your Eco-Committee.
• The committee meets at least once every half term.
• Pupils share responsibility with adults for running meetings and keeping a record of the meetings.
• Minutes are displayed on your Eco-Board.
• Reports of your Eco-Committee meetings are made available to the Board of Governors and PTA.
• Pupil representatives ensure that there is communication to and from the Eco-Committee to the rest of the school.

Step 2: Environmental Review

• An informal Environmental Review covering all ten topics is carried out by pupils (with adult supervision).
• A copy of your Environmental Review must be displayed on your Eco-Board and communicated with the whole school along with detailed plans for activities for improvement.
• It is compulsory for the Green Flag award that your Environmental Review be updated every two years to coincide with your renewal application, however it can be carried out every year as best practice.

Step 3: Action Plan

• THREE Eco-Schools topics only for first Green Flag (five topics for Green Flag renewals).
• Your Eco-Committee produces an Action Plan influenced by their Environmental Review.
• Pupils on the Eco-Committee take responsibility for leading the actions.
• The Action Plan contains timescales, who is responsible and how targets will be monitored and evaluated.
• The Eco-Committee has shared the Action Plan with the whole of the school.
• A copy of the Action Plan is displayed on your Eco-Board.

If you feel you have met the criteria listed below login to your Eco-Schools account to complete the free, self-assessed Bronze Award!

You can view all the questions you will be asked on your self-assessment or download a paper version to complete with your Eco-Committee by clicking here.

Once you have achieved your Bronze Award more of our free resources will become available via your Eco-Schools login, to help you on your next steps to the Silver Award.