Making sustainability a strategic priority

Mobilise your school or trust to embed environmental sustainability into its vision, strategy and practice, in line with the DfE's sustainability strategy. Find out how to get started and get your whole school or trust community involved.

Last reviewed on 12 January 2023
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 45949
Contents
  1. Why act on sustainability now?
  2. The decision to make sustainability a strategic focus lies with the board
  3. Find out how sustainable your current practice is and report back to the governors
  4. Collaborate with governors to put sustainability at the heart of your vision 
  5. Agree a strategy with your governors
  6. Set goals
  7. Break the goals down into operational plans
  8. Monitoring by the governing board

Why act on sustainability now?

In April 2022, the DfE published its strategy to improve sustainability in schools. While it hasn't imposed any reporting requirements on schools yet, the strategy may ultimately have an impact on your curriculum, school premises, procurement processes and more.

Get a head start on preparing for these changes by embedding sustainability across your school. And there's another big benefit: with rising costs and budget constraints, reducing energy usage and other waste will save you money.

Don't worry if you’re just getting started on this journey – below you'll find out how to take your first steps to embed sustainability across your school or trust.

The decision to make sustainability a strategic focus lies with the board

In order for the

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