Overview of the Sustainable Schools Alliance
What is the Sustainable Schools Alliance (SSA)?
The Sustainable Schools Alliance aims to provide a clear and compelling offer of support to all schools in the country, and help them to put sustainability at the heart of what they do. The evidence for the benefits of Sustainable Schools is stronger than ever. However, the government’s focus on greater school freedom means local and civil society organizations must act to help schools to pursue sustainability.
The Alliance is not a separate organisation; instead it is a network, working on the behalf of all of us and through which existing organisations can work together more effectively. Initially there were three working group leaders: the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), Think Global and Sustainability and Environmental Education (SEEd). SEEd is now the only working group member and taking forward the new structure to sustain the SSA. For governance reasons the SSA is now run through SEEd, which acts as the secretariat/manager and Chair.
History of the SSA
Initial Consultations – 2010/2011
The consultation for the development of the Alliance was held across the country and online between December 2010 and February 2011. These consultations helped to design the Alliance including its vision, mission and its five objectives. 300 organisations participated in these discussions.
SSA Launch – March 2011
The SSA was officially launched by Lord Hill (Green Minister for the Department for Education) on the 29th of March 2011 at the London School of Economics in London. The launch ceremony brought together over 100 individuals, organisations, and schools from across sectors and covering all aspects of sustainable development in schools. Discussions focused on the five SSA objectives and practical suggestions of ways forward.
The consultations and the launch were sponsored by SEEd, the NCB, Think Global, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Global Action Plan (GAP) and Eco Schools.
Ongoing work
All SS resources were loaded up onto the SEEd website as they were being condensed on the DfE website in line with communications policy.
Throughout 2011/12 there have been numerous meetings, events and policy fora, in which discussions covered project areas, approaches, funding models, and membership models. DfE, and DfID have been observers at many of these meetings
In July 2011 the SSA was endorsed by DfE in the Defra Natural Environment White Paper
In July 2012 WWF, the NCB and SEEd funded the TES Sustainable Schools Award.
In March 2012 SEEd launched the Sustainable Curriculum Project.
In December 2012 SEEd invited organisations onto the SSA Board, a working Board, to continue this important work on behalf of the the hundreds of organisations who work to support our schools. There are 25 places covering all 8 doorways, approaches, areas of the country and sizes and types of organisations. This Board will sit initially for 3 years. A part-time coordinator has been appointed.
Vision, mission and objectives
The vision, mission and the five objectives were developed at the initial consultation stage.
Vision
“Every child and young person experiences teaching and learning that enables them to feel safe and cared for in a changing world, where they want and are able to live sustainably and encourage others to do the same.”
Mission
“To drive change in the education system so that all schools put sustainability at the heart of their curriculum, their campus and their community. The Alliance will seek to achieve this by providing support and resources that help to link agendas around education for sustainable development, development education and health and well-being work in schools.”
Objectives
At the launch event participants worked on the five different objectives, establishing priorities and targets, and developing several initial working projects. A summary of the discussions about ‘what could be achieved’ is given below each objective.
Objective 1: “Develop effective communication and information routes for schools and providers of support for schools e.g., an information hub”
What could we achieve?
- Compelling narrative about the purpose of the Alliance
- Define the audience: teachers, staff, students? how do we approach them?
- Methodology of how to map the sector and create bank of case studies/skills
- Strategy to ensure an easy way to give schools access to what they need
Objective 2: “Develop effective engagement by, for example, promoting clear benefits for teaching and learning”
What could we achieve?
- Member organisations have a route-map and process to overcome/ understand the barriers
- SS school champions identified and nurtured – local level
- Schools are still hearing about SD – and SSA decided where is the ‘voice’ (the view in this group is that it should come from young people)
Objective 3: “Through collaboration we will enable new and innovative practice for embedding sustainability in schools”
What could we achieve?
- All schools to know about the Alliance
- 1000 [?] projects/activities/approaches shared and promoted
- Pupils motivated and actively engaged with the Alliance
- Website looking different and has grown
Objective 4: “Building consensus about what is good practice and disseminate to all stakeholders”
What could we achieve?
- Generating Case Studies to share from and get people in touch with each other –signposting, what it is you’re looking for, knowing who to piggy back on people’s sustainability efforts
- Communicate rapidly – online blog
- Identifying funding opportunities and means of making what you’re doing economically sustainable
Objective 5: “Encouraging the development and use of local and national measures of progress against the vision of the Alliance”
What could we achieve?
- Identify easily measurable standards at school [community] level
- Revise S3 (SS audit tool)?
- Look at models of leadership for sustainability – training link
- Collect some basic metrics and set a target number of interactions with schools
- The minimum achievement would be to define where we are and what we want to be
SSA possible Project Areas identified
On the basis of the launch outputs and ideas above the following potential project areas have been suggested and grouped:
- Gathering examples of good practice / evidence / stories/ case studies
- Connecting; hubs, networks, clusters, maps, peer learning, effective teaching & learning
- Audience analysis
- Youth voice, CPD, leadership
- Alliance Narrative and scope/breadth
- Metrics and Evaluation
Consultation/Launch Organisations and Individuals
| Organisation | Organisation | |
| Animal Lawsuits | Food for Life Partnership | |
| Architecture Centre Bristol | Footprint Friends Foundation | |
| Barnet Council | Fraser & Griffin Sustainability | |
| Bath Spa University | Friends of the Earth Youth and Education Network | |
| Birmingham FOE | Garden Organic | |
| Bishops Wood Centre | Geographical Association | |
| Blooming Green | Global Action Plan | |
| Bolton Environmental Action Team | Greenspace Management | |
| Bournemouth University | Groundwork Kent and Medway, London | |
| Bristol Council | Groundwork Lancashire West & Wigan | |
| Buckinghamshire County Council | Groundwork South West, UK | |
| Build Self Group | Hammersmith and Fulham Urban Studies Centre | |
| CABE | Hampshire County Council | |
| Carbon Trust | Haringey Council | |
| Carey Ambrose Ltd | Heath Avery Architects | |
| Carnyorth Environmental Education Centre | Holy Cross School | |
| CASE Education | I Am Tomorrow | |
| Cassop Primary School | Impington Village College | |
| Centre for Global Awareness | Institute of Education | |
| Centre for Global Education York | Intelligent Hands | |
| Chosen Hill School | Interclimate | |
| Commonwork | Islington Council | |
| Coombe Boys School | IYSS, Croyden | |
| Coventry City Council | Jacolly Puppet Theatre | |
| Craymoor Environment Trust | John Townsend Trust | |
| Cumbria Council | Keep Britain Tidy | |
| Derbyshire Wildlife Trust | King’s College London | |
| Devon County Council | Kingswood School | |
| Durham County Council | Kirklees Council | |
| East Reservoir Community Garden | Kirklees Learning Service | |
| East Sussex County Council | Knaphill School | |
| Eco Schools | Knowsley MBC | |
| ecoACTIVE | Lancashire County Council | |
| EDF Energy | Learning 2B Sustainable Ltd | |
| Education Bradford | Learning Through Landscapes | |
| Education Connections | Lifeworlds Learning | |
| Education Leeds | Link Community Development | |
| Emerge 3rs | London Borough of Camden | |
| Environment Agency | London Borough of Kingston upn Thames | |
| Envision | London Borough of Newham | |
| Essex County Council | London Environmental Education Forum | |
| Farming and Countryside Education | London South Bank University | |
| Farnborough Grange School | London Sustainable Schools Forum | |
| Federation of City Farms and Gardens | Magnified Learning | |
| Manchester Environmental Education Network | Resike | |
| Marmax | resourcefutures | |
| Masefield Architects | RHS | |
| Mayville Primary School | Roehampton University | |
| NAEE | Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames | |
| Natural England | RSPB | |
| Norfolk Council | School Food Matter | |
| North East Councils | Schools Global Garden Network | |
| npower | SE2 | |
| Osbourne Middle School | Severn Wye Energy Agency Ltd | |
| Otesha Project | Sheffield City Council | |
| Oxfam Campaigns | Sheffield County Council | |
| Oxfam Italia | SITA South Gloucestershire | |
| Partnerships for Schools | SkillsActive | |
| Pennage | Solar Aid | |
| People and Planet | Soundscape | |
| Plan UK | South East Water | |
| Play England | Southampton City Council | |
| Play Space | Southwark Council | |
| Practical Action | Sparsolt Schools’ Centre for Environmental Ed | |
| Rainforest Action Network Ghana | St Columb Minor School | |
| Redbridge Council | Sustain Education | |
| Renaissance South East | Sustainable Education Project | |
| Rendcom School | Sustrans | |
| Manchester Environmental Education Network | Sutton Council | |
| Marmax | TADEA Limited | |
| Masefield Architects | Tameside Council | |
| Mayville Primary School | Telford and Wrekin Council | |
| NAEE | The Asia High School | |
| Natural England | The Castle School | |
| Norfolk Council | The Eden Project | |
| North East Councils | The Learning Trust | |
| npower | The Skinners’ School | |
| Osbourne Middle School | Tide ~ global learning | |
| Otesha Project | TRAID | |
| Oxfam Campaigns | Unicef | |
| Oxfam Italia | Upper Shirley High | |
| Partnerships for Schools | Veolia Water | |
| Pennage | Walk England | |
| People and Planet | Wandsworth Children’s Services | |
| Plan UK | Waste Watch | |
| Play England | Wat Tyler Country Park | |
| Play Space | Westminster Council | |
| Practical Action | Wild Place Your Space | |
| Rainforest Action Network Ghana | WISE – We Inspire Sustainability Education | |
| Redbridge Council | WM Sustainable Schools | |
| Renaissance South East | Woodland Trust | |
| Rendcom School | Worcestershire Council | |
| SEEd, Think Global, NCB | World Jungle | |
| +17 Individuals | WWF-UK | |
Launch Organisations and Individuals |
||
| Ashley School | ||
| AVIVA Group Corporate Responsibility Director | ||
| Becoming green | ||
| Bexley Healthy Schools Coordinator | ||
| BITC | ||
| Brabins Endowed School | ||
| Community, Youth & Education | ||
| Defra | ||
| DfE | ||
| Director, Development Education Research Centre | ||
| East Midlands – university of Leicester | ||
| Eastfeast | ||
| EC Development Education Project Manager | ||
| EcoSchools KBT | ||
| Flow Associates | ||
| Food for Life Partnership. | ||
| Hampton Hill Junior School | ||
| Hopscotch Consulting | ||
| LGAlliance | ||
| London PermaCulture | ||
| LOtC | ||
| NAEE | ||
| NCB | ||
| NECT – Nakuru Environmental and Conservation Trust | ||
| NHM | ||
| North East Strategic Partnership for Sustainable Schools trustee | ||
| Nottingham – Bowbridge Primary | ||
| Partnerships for Schools | ||
| Project Earth Rock | ||
| Raleigh – Head of Schools and Groups | ||
| Rayleigh Primary Schools – National Association of Head Teachers | ||
| Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead | ||
| RSPB | ||
| Sainsburys Family Charitable Trust | ||
| SDC | ||
| SEEd | ||
| Sustainable Schools North West | ||
| SWLfSCoalition | ||
| Think Global | ||
| University of Cambridge International Examinations | ||
| Wastewatch | ||
| WWF-UK | ||