Prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag awarded to Blackheath High School

Blackheath High School has been awarded the prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag, recognising its commitment to excellence in environmental action and learning.   

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 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, a stag beetle nursery and introduced wildlife-friendly planting.   

These are just a handful of the initiatives Blackheath High has introduced to empower its students to have a positive impact on the environment. 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.

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.”

Jo Royle, Founder of Common Seas, said: “We’re delighted that Blackheath High School has been awarded the Eco-Schools Green Flag. As one of the first schools to join our Ocean Plastics Academy, we have seen first-hand the commitment the whole school has to breaking free from plastic pollution and protecting our ocean. So a big congratulations to the next generation of sea champions!”