Eco-Schools: Involving your Community

Welcome to this video on involving your community in your Eco-Schools activities.

Always remember when working on any part of Eco-Schools to not only think about what you are doing, but why you are doing it — what is the purpose?

So why do you need to involve your community? Eco-Schools is a fantastic opportunity to involve your school, local and global communities in your plans to help our environment.

By involving your community in your Eco-Schools activities you can get support to help you achieve your actions. Spread your ideas outside your school to encourage others to take part. Increase the reach of your actions by including more people. And make new connections with people and organisations, including helping each other out and making new friends.

To get started, think about who is part of your community. In your school you will have pupils, teachers, canteen staff, support staff, janitors, your head teacher, visiting teachers, parents, carers and your parent council.

Going outside your school to your local community that surrounds you, there will be residents, other schools and nurseries, community groups, local charities, faith organisations, local council members and local businesses.

Don't forget that your community extends across the world to include the global community — including schools in other countries, national and global charities and global organisations, such as the United Nations. There are also online communities, and members of the Scottish Parliament and members of the UK Parliament.

Who else can you think of that is part of your community that you could include in your Eco-Schools activities? You don't have to include everyone on your list — this just demonstrates all the opportunities there are to connect to your community.

Now you know who is in your community, how do you get started with involving them?

Start with your school community. Make sure everyone in your school — including all teachers and support staff — know about your Eco-Schools activities. Get everyone involved in your activities where you can.

Put your plans up on your noticeboard, visit classrooms and hold assemblies. Make sure everyone in your school has the opportunity to input into your Eco-Committee, for example, through a suggestion box or talking to class representatives.

Tell people about your Eco-Schools work including parents and carers and your parent council. You can also start to spread the word further by contacting your local newspapers to share your Eco-Schools stories.

Eco-Schools is a great opportunity for you to connect to and support your local community, so get to know your local community. Go on community walks and talk to the people you meet. Visit care homes and get to know the residents. Or make links with local schools.

You can raise money for local charities and provide for those in need with cake sales, second-hand sales, or sharing food grown in your grounds. Help improve your community. You could do this by litter picking, supporting local charities and food banks, or planting trees and flowers.

Ask your community what they need so your help is the most effective, and don't forget to check permissions for activities like planting when you're not on school property.

Another way to connect to your local community is by inviting them into your school. Invite community members or community groups in to talk about their area of expertise — for example, gardening, environmental services, waste management services.

Ask for support from your local community. You can ask businesses for support, donations, or expertise. For example, ask for materials to be donated to help improve your outside spaces. Invite community members to be involved in your actions to have a bigger impact, such as campaigns.

And you can create community events like picnics or a celebration for your latest Green Flag Award.

Finally, don't forget to involve your global community. A really simple way to do this is to share your Eco-Schools stories online via social media. You can extend your community support projects by fundraising for global charities and joining global campaigns.

Take part in citizen science campaigns, so that your measuring can have a national or even global impact. We offer twinning if you want to get to know pupils from a school in another country.

And don't forget how much of an impact your voice can have. Create your own campaign for change and organise a local march or write to local and national politicians to ask for the change you want to see.

We hope this video has given you lots of ideas to get started with involving your community in your Eco-Schools activities.

Thank you for listening. We wish you well on your Eco-Schools journey.