College publications about sustainable schools

The journey of sustainable schools - new Read the final findings from the College's sustainable schools project
Sustainability and renewal characteristics of sustainable schools and the key leadership qualities required to develop them.
Every Child's Future: leading the way Jonothan Porritt and David Hopkins stimulate debate around the responsbilities of leaders working with children.
Leading sustainable schools: what the research tells us 2008 report looking at why and how school leaders develop sustainability.
Against the tide: challenges of leading a sustainable school. What are the challenges and how can you overcome them?

Resources

Vision of a sustainable school

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Research suggests that sustainability is developed most effectively when it is part of the school’s vision, is embedded fully in the school’s curriculum and is at the heart of the school’s improvement plan. This enables sustainability work to move from being an add-on initiative to becoming the core from which a school develops all aspects of its policies, strategies, planning and day-to-day operations.

Work on sustainability has the potential to provide a jigsaw: a coherent strategy to transform. It has a life-giving property that enables schools to provide a positive ethos and culture.

The 'Valuing your future' toolkit provides guidance on how your school can collectively set its own vision. It uses the eight doorways as a framework to encourage groups of people to work together to produce a vision and development plan.

Vision statements

Below are a number of examples of how some schools have created a vision for the school.

“We believe that the school landscape should be steering everyone towards identifying the virtues and benefits of green living. Our plan is to make our grounds a haven for children and a support for trees, plants and other living things.”

“We will work to transform our own sites, practices, resourcing, teaching and learning in conjunction with as broad a spectrum of our community as possible, both locally and abroad, recording, analysing and publishing what we do as we go along.”

“We believe sustainability is all about giving children the opportunities, skills and support they need to take control of their school environment and the wider world beyond.“