Case Study 5 -Dudley Environment Schools Initiative (DES).

The Dudley Environmental Initiative was set up in 1998 building upon previous INSET and support for a number of schools during 1996 - 98.

The stated aim of the initiative is to enable effective environmental strategy for schools to be established across the authority. Schools enrol into the scheme. The initiative was piloted with 25 schools within the authority. Participating schools are supported through the process.

Requirements:

1. Identify a 'responsible' teacher to co-ordinate the strategy.
2. Provision of whole school INSET to raise awareness and to gain whole school support.
3. An audit of the environmental impact of the school this should involve the local community and result in the production of an action plan for improvement.
4. Produce an environmental policy that encompasses the ideals of Local Agenda 21.
5. Create an environmental committee (to include representatives from pupils, staff, senior management, governors, site management, parents, close residents and a local environmental group if possible).
6. Establish an environmental self-help network using Internet and e-mail.
7. Positive activity to be built into normal daily work programmes.
8. Increased use of 'green resources' where possible.
9. Integration of environmental and developmental issues into the curriculum.
10. Continued development of the external and internal environments.

Schools that complete the process are then eligible for the 'Dudley Environment School Award'. The first school to achieve this status was Northfield Road Primary School in January 2002. Three schools had achieved the award by July 2002 and the number of participating schools has more than doubled from the original 25 schools.

This scheme has been successful for a number of reasons. There is a very clear framework with good support and guidance from the LEA. The lead person has considerable knowledge, passion and commitment and has been a strong driving force for the initiative. It is clearly recognised as an important area that all schools should be involved in. The scheme has been designed to be manageable without an excessive increase in workload and has built in flexibility. The award for successful schools and community involvement are other key features. The need for a named person with overall responsibility is another key feature as responsibility for issues of sustainable development are often spread across a number of staff in schools and accountability becomes unclear.

The scheme could easily be used alongside other schemes such as eco-schools if schools wish to do this. It is a model that could easily be used by other LEAs.