Another major landmark has been reached by Prior’s Court young people in their ambition to make a difference to the environment.

Prior’s Court reached silver status in the Eco-Schools scheme at the end of September, after earning bronze status in March.

Only the top-rank Eco-Schools Green Flag status now remains to be achieved.

In recent months, despite the challenges posed by coronavirus, activities have continued as part of the Eco-Schools scheme, including a plastic-free picnic during Plastic-Free July and a site-wide litter pick in September.

While nine of our young people are on our Eco-Schools committee, the events in the past months have featured dozens of our young people taking part.

Nickie Dunphy, Prior’s Court Purchasing Manager who is leading on the Eco-Schools project, said: “This demonstrates how the ambition to be greener is being embraced right across Prior’s Court by young people and staff alike.

Our aim with this project has been to empower our young people to make a difference to the natural environment around them by allowing them to lead on and participate in direct, positive action. It has been brilliant to see the creativity and dedication which has gone into our projects.

“As part of the steps towards the silver award, the Eco-Schools committee chose to focus on the topics of water, marine and litter which are being embedded into learning and general life across Prior’s Court as we now work towards Green Flag status.”

Any type of school can join Eco-Schools, but due to the complexity of the conditions the young people at Prior’s Court are affected by, members of staff have produced adapted methods to meet the criteria to achieve Eco-Schools targets, as to meet the needs of the young people. This has included adapting communication methods and creating on-site methods of reaching certain targets (such as using Virtual Reality to learn about the ‘marine’ theme).

Looking to achieve Eco-Schools status came out of a desire for Prior’s Court to be greener, with a group of staff members also meeting regularly about how other changes can be made.

For more information about Eco-Schools online