Blackheath school awarded prestigious eco award

To be awarded the Green Flag, schools must lead initiatives and provide hands-on learning activities covering three of the Eco-School’s environmental topics. 

Blackheath High School, an all girls school for ages 3-18, chose to tackle energy, waste and biodiversity.

The girls learned about energy use, ran energy-saving switch-off campaigns that have reduced the school’s CO2 emissions, and carried out environment and energy audits.  

They also engaged with the local community, clearing litter and plastic waste from the street to help prevent it from reaching rivers and oceans.

To increase biodiversity around the school, the girls built a minibeast hotel (pictured), a stag beetle nursery and introduced wildlife-friendly planting.

Eco-Schools is a global programme engaging 19.5 million children across 67 countries, making it the largest educational programme on the planet.

Carol Chandler-Thompson, Head of Blackheath High School said: “At Blackheath High we are all hyper-aware of the environmental crisis, and I am so proud of how committed our girls and staff have been in playing their part to combat it. 

“This award is a real testament to their hard work. But it doesn’t stop here. We have many more exciting environmental initiatives in the pipeline which will see us make even more of a difference.” 

In celebration of its 140th Anniversary last year, Blackheath High invited all members of the school community to make environmentally-focused pledges to improve the local community and planet. 

One of its pledges was to be one of a handful of schools to introduce the study of ocean plastics to the curriculum. 

Blackheath High partnered with Common Seas, an anti-plastic pollution not-for-profit, to deliver this.