News 

Eco-Schools is a global, student-led phenomenon, the world's leading environmental education programme and one of the international Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) programmes. It makes environmental awareness and practical action an intrinsic part of school life.

Eco-Schools is operated here by environmental charity, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, which is dedicated to making Northern Ireland a cleaner and more pleasant place. The programme has gone from strength-to-strength over the last few years with support from the Department of the Environment and sponsorship from SSE Airtricity.

Environment Minister, Mark H. Durkan, whose department supports the Programme said:

“This is a tremendous achievement for schools. Our young people have a proud history spanning over twenty years with a local school being the first in the world to be awarded an Eco-Schools Green Flag Award. The fact that every school is actively working towards getting the international Green Flag Award is testament to how important the environment is to young people.

“Getting young people involved is critical if we are to sustain our environment. During my many visits to schools I have seen at first-hand how young people of all ages are making a real difference, altering attitudes, behaviours, making real savings and contributing to a better environment.”

This year Northern Ireland became the first country out of the 59 countries in the international programme to reach 100% participation with all schools here registering to take part. This landmark achievement is testimony to the enthusiasm and determination of Northern Ireland’s pupils to make a difference and change their environment for the better.

This 20th anniversary year of the programme has also seen a record breaking number of schools in Northern Ireland achieving the pinnacle of the programme, the prestigious and internationally recognised Eco-Schools Green Flag Award. 128 schools received the award in recognition of the excellent progress they have been making in protecting the environment and moving towards a more sustainable future.

Carmel Fyfe, Eco-Schools Manager, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful said: “It is hugely encouraging to see the many benefits of the Eco-Schools programme, such as better pupil engagement, cost savings and environmental improvement, being shared by every school in Northern Ireland. Congratulations to all our Eco-Schools on their fantastic achievements this year and we look forward to seeing more and more of our schools achieving the prestigious Green Flag award.”

Paul Cooley, Head of SSE Airtricity's Renewables Business, the Principal Sponsors of the Eco-Schools Programme added: “We’re extremely proud to be associated with Eco-Schools and I’d personally like to congratulate all 1178 schools involved in the programme and in particular the 128 schools who have achieved Green Flag status this year.”

List of schools achieving the Green Flag Award in 2014-15.

Five beaches along the East coast of Northern Ireland have received awards for their environmental management.

Newcastle, Murlough, Tyrella Beach, Cranfield West and Helen’s Bay and received their awards at Helen’s Bay in Crawfordsburn Country Park on 25th June, joining 30 beaches in Wales and 58 in the Republic of Ireland who have also received the award.

Cloughey beach on the Ards Peninsula received a pilot Award while Ards and North Down Borough Council completes the adoption of the beach and Warren.

The Green Coast Awards are supported by Coca-Cola and are part of a wider eco-management and volunteering programme run by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. The aim of the Award is to recognise beaches for their high environmental quality.

To achieve the award, beaches must have excellent water quality and have effective and appropriate management which ensures the protection of the natural environment.

Chris Allen, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful’s Local Environmental Quality Manager said, “These beaches are exceptional places to visit for their unspoilt natural beauty. They may not all have the infrastructure or facilities available on our Blue Flag beaches, but that is no criticism: These beaches are all clean, safe and environmentally friendly, and we should be proud that we have these natural gems on our doorstep.”

Gillian Shields, Community Investment Manager with Coca-Cola, said, “We are proud to support the Green Coast Awards and Clean Coasts Programme.

As a local company we have been investing in community projects for some 75 years and are proud to partner with Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, an organisation that is committed to protecting our local environment and championing environmental change for coastlines throughout Northern Ireland.”

Green Coast Award beaches generally have strong community involvement, with local people given the opportunity to take part in the management process; everything from helping to keep it free of litter through to having a say in development decisions.

If you would like to help make a difference in your area whether it be a coastal or an inland waterway then you can get involved by getting in touch with Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful by ringing 02890 736 920 or emailing Nicola.Murray@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org. Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful may be able to support your events such as local clean-ups with equipment and other means of assistance and you may even be nominated for a Coast Care Award at the end of the summer!

Translink & Eco Schools celebrate rise in school sustainable journeys

Translink and Eco Schools have joined forces to reward local schools who have made smart moves to tackle car dependency in Northern Ireland by choosing to use more sustainable transport.

Over a two week period, pupils in 31 local schools participated in the ‘Translink Eco Schools Travel Challenge’ with 1176 pupils monitoring their travel patterns and making an effort to walk, cycle, use the bus or train for the school run.

During the Challenge, there was a massive shift away from car use to sustainable travel meaning over half of all journeys made were sustainable, totalling a distance of 37,027km. If all 1,178 schools (320,000 pupils) in Northern Ireland took part in the challenge adopting a similar percentage of sustainable journeys, an estimated 453,108 litres of fuel could be saved annually and 1,365,712 car journeys per year could be removed from local roads, significantly reducing congestion at school gates.

Ulidia Integrated College – Carrickfergus, St Ciaran’s Primary School, Cushendun, St Colmcille’s PS – Downpatrick and Holy Cross PS – Atticall were the top performers in the initiative that aimed to encourage school pupils and parents to choose more environmentally-friendly transport modes.

The Eco Schools Green Flag Award also went to Barbour Nursery School, Dundonald PS, Ulidia Integrated College, St Malachy’s PS – Camlough, St Joseph’s Nursery School, Antrim and St Bride’s Primary School in Belfast following successful completion of the travel challenge.

Termoncanice Primary School – Limavady also won an Ulsterbus Tours educational class coach trip and day out in Dublin.

Speaking at a Prize Giving Ceremony in Belfast Central Station, Gordon Milligan, Translink Chief HR & Corporate Services Officer, said:

“Congratulations to all 31 schools who have successfully completed the travel challenge. You’re all ‘smart movers’ embracing the lifestyle benefits of sustainable transport.

“Leaving the car at home, offers parents and pupils many advantages: more free time on board bus or rail services to relax and de-stress; save money with good value tickets; use free WiFi;, reduce journey times; avoid parking issues; produce less pollution and improve health by introducing regular exercise into daily routines.

“Last year, over 80 million bus and rail passenger journeys were made in Northern Ireland – an increase of 2.8 million fare-paying passengers in the past three years – as more and more people make the smart move to a more sustainable and attractive lifestyle.

“We were pleased to work in partnership with Eco Schools to deliver the travel challenge and look forward to educating more pupils about the benefits of sustainable travel,” said Gordon.

Carmel Fyfe, Eco-Schools Manager, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, said:

"The Translink Eco-Schools Travel Challenge is a fun way to educate our young people on the positive reasons for using sustainable transport and it is wonderful to see so many pupils getting involved.

"Encouraging sustainable transport use is a key topic in the Eco-Schools programme and we are delighted to once again be supported by Translink with the Travel Challenge which is a great way for schools to work towards achieving the prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag. Congratulations to all those schools which participated in the challenge."

Schools interested in participating in the next Translink Eco-Schools Travel Challenge as part of the Eco-Schools Awards Scheme can call 028 9073 6920 or click www.translink.co.uk/ecoschools/. For details on Ulsterbus Tours Educational Trips click www.ulsterbustours.com or call 028 9033 7004.

Schools from all across Northern Ireland celebrated their achievements in environmental and energy saving projects at the 2015 SSE Airtricity and Eco-Schools Global Wind Awards, held in Derry~Londonderry’s Everglades Hotel. The Eco-Schools programme is run by environmental charity Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, sponsored by SSE Airtricity and supported by the Department of the Environment.

Pupils from Fairview Primary School, Ballyclare and Holy Trinity College, Cookstown have been awarded the title of Northern Ireland’s leading primary and post-primary Eco-Committees of the year at the annual awards.

The Eco-Committee of the Year award recognised the special role of both Fairview’s and Holy Trinity’s Eco-Committees in helping drive the Eco-Schools programme within their school. This year saw Fairview awarded their 3rd Green Flag and Holy Trinity their first. Both schools were noted to be outstanding in the amount of environmental projects they are involved in and the strength of their actions both in school and their communities.

Fairview Primary School has also been awarded the title of Northern Ireland’s leading primary school in Operation Energy Project of the Year, along with St Colm’s High School in Draperstown who took the award in the post-primary category.

The Operation Energy Project of the Year award recognised the special efforts made by both Fairview and St Colm’s, in studying the Eco-Schools Energy topic. St Colm’s held a school-wide Power Down Day in November which saw them save a potential £40.00 a day on their energy bill. Pupils are keen to continue the energy and money saving drive at school.

Also honoured at the 2015 SSE Airtricity and Eco-Schools Global Wind Awards was the Guiney Family and their daughter, Ava, who attends Cairnshill Primary School, Belfast who won the Family Energy Champions Poster Competition with their creative poster which highlighted their top energy saving tips at home.

Pupils received their awards from Mark H Durkan, Minister for the Environment, who said: “These awards are an important and fitting recognition of the efforts of our young people, teachers and also their wider families in looking after our environment and saving energy.

“Whenever I visit Eco-Schools I see the passion, pride and potential of the people who will be the next generation of leaders and workers in all walks of life. I take great pride in being here today to recognise these achievements. All entrants should be very proud of your work. Seeing the energy and enthusiasm displayed by all of you, and the other Eco-Schools, gives me tremendous hope for the future of our environment.”

The day itself saw 100 pupils and guests take a specially guided tour of SSE Airtricity’s 76MW Slieve Kirk Wind Park, and experience the power of wind up close, even going inside the turbines.

Josh Bradley, Communications Manager, SSE Airtricity said: “This year’s awards, as in the past two years, have been a great indication as to just how enthusiastic and dedicated Northern Ireland’s Eco-Schools are when it comes to studying energy and the environment. It is great to be able to recognise their achievements here at the Global Wind Awards.”

Carmel Fyfe, Eco-Schools Manager, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, commented: “Congratulations to the winning schools and indeed to all the finalists. Our young people care deeply about the environment and through their Eco-Schools work are making a positive change to their wider communities. It is wonderful to see the schools excelling in such a prestigious international programme and we are delighted to be supported by SSE Airtricity in rewarding them through these very special Global Wind Awards.”

Operation Energy is a free teaching resource developed by SSE Airtricity and Eco-Schools and is available at www.operation-energy.com.