Strategic Overview

In the UK Government’s Sustainability Strategy, Securing the Future, formal education is seen as having a crucial role to play. By 2020, the government would like every school to be a Sustainable School, ‘integrating high standards of achievement and behaviour with the goals of healthy living, environmental awareness, community involvement and citizenship, many of the same aspirations as Every Child Matters’.

Sustainable Schools Framework In 2005, the DCSF (then DFES) launched the National Framework for Sustainable Schools with eight doorways to help schools focus on sustainable development. Doorways offer opportunities for improvement across the school curriculum, campus and community.

The main delivery mechanism for to Sustainable Schools Framework is the Eco Schools programme. There are currently over 200 Worcestershire schools registered.

In Worcestershire, the County Council works in partnership in the form of a Learning for Sustainability Forum, consisting of representatives from other council directorates (e.g. Healthy Schools and Child’s Voice Team – Children’s Services and School Travel team – Environmental Services), environmental education providers and other local NGO’s, and has created a Learning for Sustainability Strategy  (400.45 KB) to consolidate and move forward the sustainability education work across Worcestershire. The Learning for Sustainability workis also part of the County Council’s Sustainability Policy and Action Plan. It is informed by the Council’s Carbon Management Plan and the Worcestershire Partnership’s Climate Change Strategy and Biodiversity Action Plan.

Who we work with
The Council has a Learning for Sutainability (LfS) team, dedicated to working primarily with schools, given their place at the heart of communities and their key role in informing the attitudes and choices of future generations. The Sustainability team also works closely with others within the County Council and with wider audiences, such as householders, businesses and community organisations.

Next: Key Themes & Our Ways of Working