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Congratulations!!!

Fantastic work Nell !

We are very pleased to tell you that you and your Eco-Committee at Woodside Academy have been successful in meeting the requirements for the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award.

We reviewed your application and noted the following:

It’s very impressive that you have formed such a large Eco-Committee with 7 adults supporting these efforts – this is phenomenal! It shows that young people in your school are aware of environmental issues and committed to being active and creating positive change. This knowledge and attitude has provided your school with excellent foundations for the many successes that you’ve achieved this year. It’s brilliant that you were able to split the Eco-Committee in to teams that hosted their own meetings and took responsibility for their own minutes. This will allow them to take ownership over the Eco-Schools programme and develop their listening, communication and teamwork skills. We loved reading the quote provided by a member of your Eco-Committee. They sound like a very impressive individual and their quote demonstrated how passionate they are about improving their local community and protecting our planet. The example you provided of the meeting minutes is fantastic! We loved your approach to completing the Environmental Review by utilising your Sub-Committees! It's brilliant to read that the Environmental Review completed by your Eco-Committee helped your pupils appreciate everything that your school is already doing to benefit our environment and identify areas to work on in the future. It was lovely to read the detailed comments on your Environmental Review and gain a real insight into the debate and discussion that took place whilst completing it. It’s clear your Eco-Committee are constantly considering what actions they can take to improve their local community and benefit our planet. We love that your discussions and preferences inspired the choice of projects in your Action Plan. It’s a strong approach to work on things that will produce visible impact and change, and a great example of critical thinking. We love the variety of activities that you and your Eco-Committee have included in the Action Plan that implement initiatives you already have in place as well as unique ideas such as adopting an orangutan and writing to your local MP. This will no doubt support multi-disciplinary skills and shows how integrated environmentalism is in your school. You have also done an amazing job at including lots of detail and explanation within your Action Plan. Well done for ensuring all year groups had an Eco-Topic in their curriculum plans. Your Curriculum Link examples are imaginative, practical and fun, making environmental education accessible and engaging for a variety of needs across your school, well done for building on previous Green Flag experiences! It is great that you have been able to improve general understanding about a variety of issues, especially the impact of Global Warming. It is commendable that your staff have committed to integrating the Eco-School Topics, well done! It is fantastic to read that Eco-Schools and environmental issues have become an embedded as part of your learning. We would love to see more examples of curriculum plans and work that has been produced in these sessions. You have placed a lot of emphasis on informing as many members of your school community as possible in your Eco-Schools work through the school social media as well as feedback in class and assemblies and this is a strength of your application. Getting involved with a variety of organisations such as WaterAid and local food banks is a brilliant sign of your commitment to partnership. Your ability and willingness to partnership is impressive! We’ll need this approach to fight the impacts of climate change in the future. This is what all Eco-Schools should aim for. It was great to read about your efforts being highlighted in Thurrock News. We hope all staff members involved in your Eco-Schools work take immense amounts of pride from the parental quotes uploaded. Your hard work and dedication has inspired young people and empowered them with the belief that they can positively impact our planet – this is something incredibly special. Your Eco-Board is fantastic, clear and informative – well done! Your greatest success is a brilliant achievement. Your access in raising awareness as well as fundraising for the orangutan are fantastic examples of your work. It’s clearly something that pupils will be proud of and leaves a great legacy to build upon and have a lasting impact. The challenge of sourcing data for comparisons and tracking progress is a big one. It creates a pressure and takes resilience to keep going as you have been. With this context, your achievements are even greater and we feel lucky that you’ve committed to our programme and delivered the achievements that you have. This is a big achievement. We love your collaborative approach to creating an Eco-Code, this approach has allowed young people to take ownership and create a final code that will be treasured by everyone at your school. It is fantastic that you were able to work together to focus on key points you wanted within your Eco-Code. We love that you were able to use NATURE to formulate your fantastic acrostic Eco-Code. Well done! Thank you so much for submitting such a terrific application. We have loved reading about your journey and are incredibly impressed by all you have achieved. We have no hesitation in awarding you an Eco-Schools Green Flag, congratulations!

As always THANK YOU very much for your hard work, we are so proud of all our schools and the collective achievements they have made to protect our planet for future generations. We look forward to working with Woodside Academy again next academic year to help you expand on your eco-actions and successes of this year.

Have a great summer break,

The Eco-Schools Team