School lifts country’s 2000th green flag
Education secretary attends special ceremony
Nursery children entertain their guests Pupils and staff at St John’s RC Academy in Perth have been presented with Scotland’s 2000th green flag.
Education Secretary John Swinney MSP attended the ceremony at North Inch Community Campus on Friday, March 17, where he praised the school’s efforts in helping Scotland become a world-leader in sustainability.
Green flags recognise ecoschoools where sustainable development and action on environmental issues are encouraged.
Scotland is now the only nation in the world to achieve 2000 eco-school flags, demonstrating a commitment to tackling climate change. Perthshire North MSP Mr Swinney said: “It is a huge achievement - the idea behind the green flag and the whole initiative chime closely with Curriculum for Excellence and reflects the ethos of St John’s Academy’s importance on value-based educations. The lessons learned from eco-schools are strengthening the delivery of education here at St John’s.
“Out of 2500 schools in Scotland, 2000 have green flags – which is a huge demonstration of the whole country for climate change. We are strengthening our approach to a global effort.
“The heart of Deputy First Minister John Swinney celebrates Scotland’s 2000th green flag for eco-schools with pupils from St Johns RC Academy in Perth. Pics: Angus Findlay
Curriculum for Excellence is the importance of creating responsible citizens who are aware of the resources and the need to manage the resources we have in an effective and sustainable way.
“This eco-schools programme enables us to work and see students emerge from education ready to make contributions to the rest of the world.”
Mr Swinney made a presentation to the school, and praised the academy’s efforts.
He added: “I am delighted to present St John’s Academy with its green flag and congratulate all of the pupils and school staff on becoming our 2000th eco school, making Scotland an international leader through all their hard
work.”
St John’s headteacher Sean Hagney said: “We are delighted to receive our green flag - the 2000th in Scotland and our first as an all-through school.
“Our eco-group grew out of our primary into both the nursery and the secondary, with some pupils being active Eco members for many years.
“This award recognises our commitment to sustainable education over many years and I congratulate the pupils, parents and staff of the nursery, primary and secondary on this achievement, as well as our wider community partners.
“It recognises the huge variety of learning which takes place in school to help make our world a better place
for now and into the future, from planting vegetables in our community garden, to upcycling and recycling waste, to being a Fairtrade and Rights Respecting School.”
Representatives of Keep Scotland Beautiful also attended the school ceremony on Friday, and praised Perthshire’s young people as ambassadors for climate change within their own homes.
The charity’s trustee, Bruce Robertson, said: “Scotland is the world leader in the programme and it is absolutely fantastic that 2000 schools have achieved what is a pretty high expectation.
“It is not a ‘tick-box’ approach, and the schools and communities are embracing the values of
learning about sustainability in everything they do.
“The programme is about giving young people a set of values and skills and knowledge they will take with them right through their life.
“We hope young people leave our schools with the values that help them not only take forward their own personal careers and aspirations but also helps them to become active citizens of Scotland, and in so doing ensure they actually improve our environment and improve our employment opportunities through our environment and try to reduce our carbon footprint and actually understand a greener Scotland is a better Scotland.”