Sustainability

As a Trust, we believe that preparing children and young people for the future means more than academic success - it means helping them understand and care for the world around them. Our Sustainability Charter sets out our shared commitment to making that happen.

The Charter brings together practical steps we will take across our schools and shared services to reduce our environmental impact, promote responsible choices, and build a culture of sustainability. From cutting energy use and increasing biodiversity, to improving how we travel and what we buy, every aspect of this plan is about making real, measurable change.

At the heart of this work is one of our core values: responsibility. We are responsible for the way we treat our environment, for the future we help shape, and for setting a strong example for the next generation. Taking action on sustainability is not just the right thing to do – it is a shared responsibility that we all carry, together.

Importantly, this is not just the work of leaders or specialists. Sustainability is something every learner, teacher, and member of staff can be part of. We want our schools and shared services to be places where environmental awareness is part of everyday life - built into lessons, decision-making, and our wider community work.

Our Charter is a starting point. We will keep listening, learning, and improving as we go. Thank you to everyone who is already contributing to this journey. Together, we can shape a better future - one that is more sustainable, more thoughtful, and better for everyone.

Lizann Lowson, CEO

Let’s Go Zero

Let’s Go Zero is a national campaign that brings together teachers, learners, parents and schools working to become carbon zero by 2030. This is a significant challenge, but it is recognised that this type of movement can only be positive in sustaining the planet for future generations.

Currently, there are 1853 schools signed up across the UK. To work towards being a zero-carbon school, key impact areas include:

Energy Use – such as installing new boilers, lights and smart meters or running ‘switch off’ campaigns with staff and learners
Travel – such as joining schemes and programmes to encourage cycling and walking
Waste – such as sorting waste or composting on-site, or helping families cut waste at home
Water – such as installing water butts, water-less urinals and water-saving taps, or harvesting grey water
Procurement – such as sourcing goods or services locally, or cutting stationery use
Food - such as meat-free days, serving food grown locally or on site, or working with learners’ families
School Grounds – such as planting trees locally or on-site, running biodiversity projects, or cooling through vegetation

We are committed to supporting the Government’s agenda to be carbon zero in schools by 2035. All our schools have signed up to Let’s Go Zero with some schools also working towards the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award. We are pledging to work towards a more sustainable future for our young learners by acting now.

The Trust is signed up to the Let's Go Zero campaign initially for the areas of Food, Water, Travel and Grounds and all schools have a nominated sustainability lead. The Trust's Head of Operations works with school leads and student representatives to drive activities and initiatives. The Let's Go Zero campaign provides us with an action plan to achieve the above.

Eco-Schools Green Flag

The Eco-Schools programme provides seven steps to inspire young people to make a positive difference in their school. Schools participate in different Eco-Schools topics and complete the seven Eco-Schools steps throughout the academic year to apply for an Eco-Schools Green Flag accreditation.

The Eco-Schools Green Flag is valid for one academic year before renewal is required to remain an Eco-Schools accredited Green Flag School.