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1.Getting startedInvite members of your school

community to create a SustainabilityCouncil. Meet regularly, make practicalsuggestions, set achievable objectives andwork towards them. Start by drawing upyour ideas into a document (we’ve calledours a Sustainability Charter), and get itacknowledged by the school’s managementteam. Within this document, outline yourschool’s commitments to sustainability.Agree principles on anything from everyday school life to the design of newbuildings and assessing the greencredentials for school suppliers, and ensurethey figure prominently in the building,development and decision-makingprocesses of the school.

2.Dovetail with theideals of your

mission statementYour Sustainability Charter shouldencapsulate the goals identified in yourschool’s mission statement, if it has one.This will help gain acceptance for whatyou’re trying to achieve by keeping it in line

with the objectives and ideals of yourinstitution. For example, as a member of theUnited World College’s Movement (UWC), ourcollege is bound by UWC’s mission statement tomake “education a force to unite people, nationsand cultures for peace and a sustainablefuture”– a perfect fit for our Charter.

3.Review Becoming sustainable is a journey, so it’s

vital you know where your school’s journeybegins. An effective review should include aseries of simple questions for key areas: energyconsumption, waste and recycling, water,transport, healthy living, biodiversity, schoolgrounds and facilities, global citizenship, greenprocurement and pupil participation. TheEco-Schools project provides excellent freeresources to help you review your school’scampus and set appropriate targets.

4.Wider schoolinvolvement

Making a school sustainable takes more thanjust a small group of passionate peopleimplementing new technology and procedures.Becoming truly sustainable requires a shift in

people’s perception of sustainability and anunderstanding of the role each person canplay in achieving those goals.

Talk to people at ground level. Initially,members of your Sustainability Councilshould take the time to visit and talk witheach class (or boarding house) to outline yourgoals and ask for support.

Students are more likely to be influencedby their peers than authority figures.Therefore, appointing SustainableChampions within each class is an importantnext step. These Champions can then co-ordinate how their individual classes wishto take part. The key is to engage students,not dictate to them; it’s important that youallow students to voice their ideas and inputinto the way forward, rather than instructingthem on how to take out your orders.

Students aren’t likely to be the onlystakeholders in your community. Be sure toinclude the ground-staff, kitchen-staff andwider faculty members in decision-making.For example, your canteen could well bethrowing away valuable composting materialthat could be used to grow crops destined forthe school lunches.

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MISSION: SUSTAINABLE

UWC ATLANTIC COLLEGE’S SARAH HAMILTON PROVIDES AN INSIGHT

INTO HOW SCHOOLS CAN CULTIVATE AN ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY THAT

WILL BOTH INFORM AND IMPROVE LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT...

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n ECO-SCHOOLSEco-Schools is an international awardprogramme that guides schools on theirsustainable journey, providing a frameworkto help embed these principles into the heart of school life.eco-schools.org

n SALIX Salix enables public sector organisations

across England, Scotland, Wales andNorthern Ireland to take a lead in tacklingclimate change by increasing their energy efficiency. Salix provides 100%interest-free capital for the public sector toreduce their energy costs by enabling theinstallation of modern, energy efficienttechnologies and replacing dated, inefficienttechnologies.salixfinance.co.uk

n GROUNDWORK UKGroundwork is the community charity with a green heart. Their goal is to makeplaces to look better, streets to be safer andoutside areas to be green and beautiful andto show people how they can make their homes, schools andworkplaces better for the environment and cheaper to run.groundwork.org.uk

SUPPORT: ORGANISATIONS, FRAMEWORKS AND GUIDANCE

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Sarah Hamilton is a Houseparent andSustainability Conference Organiser at UWCAtlantic College in south Wales, the foundingcollege of the international UWC Movement.

Each year 350 students from over 90 countries, attend theCollege to study its pioneering Atlantic Diploma and co-curricular programme.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

environment and the challenges you’ll likelyencounter. We regularly enlist the talents andknowledge of local beekeepers, gardeners,farmers and conservation groups.

7.Get students fully participating

Inspiring all students to invest and championsustainability is a tall order. Quite often the keyis providing a range of opportunities to getinvolved with. Start small to begin with;involving students in practical recyclinginitiatives is a simple but sure way of drivingsustainability to the forefront of their minds.

As plans progress you can become moreambitious; our students study under a co-curriculum, which sees them split theirtime equally between academics and a range ofexperiential activities, sustainability beingone. Over a period of years our students havebeen able to create a garden, with its produceset to be used by the College’s caterers.Providing opportunities for our students totake part in projects outside of the schoolallows them to gain valuable skills which theycan them implement onsite.

8.Conferences and focus weeks

No school will be in a position to be 100 percent focused on any one goal 100 per cent of the time, so implementing sustainablepractices into everyday life should be the goal.That said, allotting a set time in which yourschool can focus on sustainability can beincredibly rewarding.

At UWC Atlantic College we dedicate oneweek a year entirely to sustainability. Thatweek allows each student and teacher theopportunity to learn about and becomeinvolved in our ongoing sustainability projects.This provides the opportunity for ourSustainability Champions and faculty groupsto demonstrate their efforts and often leads toothers joining in. Activities will range fromworking on internal projects, such as ourschool’s kitchen garden, to aiding with externalprojects within the community. During theweek we host an annual SustainabilityConference, where regular classes aresuspended entirely to provide all students withthe opportunity to learn from sustainabilityexperts, including their peers. Start by invitingthe external experts you are working with tocome and speak at your event, or runworkshops with the students. You should alsoinvite students already working within theproject to organise their own demonstrations.

I’d suggest starting small to begin with; injust a few years at UWC Atlantic College, ourconference has grown from a couple ofspeakers and workshops, to a two-day event

with 350 students taking part.

9.Supporting fellowteachers

Staff and teachers should be encouraged tomake sustainability part of their jobdescription. Any business understands theimportance of corporate social responsibility(CSR) and schools should be no different.While you can’t strong arm teachers intobecoming green-minded overnight, theyshould be given the chance to take part inyour sustainable efforts and learn alongsidetheir students. Working outside onsustainable projects is both rewarding andstress-relieving and provides an excellentopportunity for new teachers to bond withstudents in a non-classroom environment.

10.Sharing success Today people are more generally

aware of the importance of sustainability.Once you have encouraged your school’scommunity to make sustainability their goal,it is important to share the successes. Inorder to stay engaged and progress with thegood work, teachers and staff need to knowthat their hard work is making a difference.Message boards regular updates in classesand special sustainability assemblies are asimple yet effective way of keeping yourschools mission and its triumphs at the foreof students’ minds.

11.Keeping track anddeveloping your plan

Recording your work is vital. Whatever thesize of goal, recording your efforts andevaluating their success is vital. Whenworking to make an entire school sustainableit’s easy for work to be replicated.

Understanding what has worked, or whathas failed, is how you develop your plan. Inmany cases the data will already be available– your school’s electricity bills can show ifenergy saving campaigns are effective, forexample, and your catering department willalready have records of food wastage. It’sessential that these results are recordedagainst your initial objectives identifiedwithin your Sustainability Charter.

CREATING A SCHOOL KITCHEN GARDENThere is always room to create a kitchengarden. Ultimately it doesn’t matter if youhave a spare field available or need tostart with tubs.

1. Create an area for a kitchen garden,where students are free to experimentwithin clearly defined parameters.2. Start small with a soft-fruit growingarea, a vinery, a poly-tunnel, raisedplanting beds, composting bins andpumpkin mounds.3. If space allows – try expanding tocreating vegetable plots and a definedbio-diversity area. When selecting yourcrops its worth speaking to your cateringstaff to find out what fruit and vegetablesthey could use. 4. Start off simple when growing crops;rhubarb, salad, runner-beans,raspberries, spinach, and beetroot are alleasy to grow. Once you’ve mastered theart of producing staples like these, trysomething more adventurous.5. There’s no such thing as waste water.Make it your first priority to repair roofsand guttering, collecting run-off water in butts.

5.Make sustainability partof your curriculum

Teachers are always looking for ways to makesubjects come alive and relatable to theireveryday lives. Sustainability is a perfectexample of how this can be achieved. Forcertain subjects, such as geography, biology orphysics, this is relatively straight-forward.However, as the environment continues to bean issue at the fore of political and mediaagendas, issues of sustainability areincreasingly useful tools when discussingissues of global politics, culture and region.

Learning outside of the classroom is not anew idea, but at UWC Atlantic College we findthat working on environmental projects as part of our co-curriculum programme allowsour students to develop the valuable leadershipand critical thinking skills we aim to instil inthe classroom.

6.Get support from within your school’s

local communityNo school is an island and when trying tobecome sustainable every school should look toutilise and build on the expertise and resourceavailable in their own communities. Becomingtruly sustainable is an ambitious undertakingand learning from the experience of others cansave time and efforts. Providing students withexperts they can relate to is important, so don’thesitate to enlist any alumni with greencredentials. These people will not only be ableto help you learn sustainable practices, but willknow those most suitable for your schools

“INSPIRING ALL STUDENTS TO INVEST AND CHAMPIONSUSTAINABILITY IS A TALL ORDER. QUITE OFTEN THE KEY ISPROVIDING A RANGE OF OPPORTUNITIES TO GET INVOLVEDWITH. START SMALL... ”

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