Use this page to explore how you can make your school or setting more sustainable in response to the Climate Emergency.
As well as teaching young people how to tackle the Climate Emergency, sustainable schools and settings can also see cost savings on energy bills, improved health and wellbeing through active travel, increased biodiversity on site and a greater sense of community.
Each school is now expected to have a Climate Action Plan and lead. We can support delivery of these plans through our resources – please read about this below.
Our Early Years Team have developed accessible resources and guidance to support Sustainability and Climate Action Planning in education and early years settings. They can be found here on the Hub.
There are several organisations that provide resources, advice and support to help schools make their operations more sustainable:
- Eco-Schools provides a simple framework to guide schools on their sustainable journey, helping to make sustainability an integral part of school life
- The Pod is a resource for teachers and pupils who want to make their school more sustainable. It is designed to support the Eco-Schools programme
- The Community Energy Network has a wealth of advice and support to help raise awareness of energy efficiency, sustainability and renewable technologies, with both a home-based and a community-based focus
Based in Bath and now operating nationally, Energy Sparks is an online, school-specific energy analysis tool and energy education programme. It supports the primary curriculum, particularly Key Stage 2 maths and science, as well as secondary schools.
Energy Sparks produces easy to read charts showing your energy consumption. It's a useful tool to educate young people and encourages them to engage with climate issues, offering reward points and badges for reducing energy consumption.
If you wish to make your school more sustainable, there are several ways you can encourage students and staff to make sustainable travel choices:
- Avoid single person car journeys where possible
- Encourage staff to carpool, walk or cycle to work. They can also use the Travel West journey planner to help them plan their journey
- Encourage parents and guardians to use the school transport service if it is not reasonable or safe to walk or cycle. Visit our school transport section to get school transport
- Use a Modeshift STARS School Travel Plan to help your school support safer, more active and more sustainable journeys
- Use our Bikeability service which offers cycle training for children, and schools
- Access our road safety education sessions for primary, secondary and sixth‑form students to support safe active travel
- Use our 'Kick the Habit' campaign resources to raise awareness about the dangers of engine idling and find out how to report idling to our team
- Download and use the Clean Air Schools Toolkit, a free resource for primary schools to help teach about outdoor air pollution and how to improve air quality
- Book a visit from Dr Bike, an experienced mechanic who can check and repair bikes on site to keep them in good working order
- Use this page to learn more about setting up a Walking Bus, where a group of children are escorted to school by adult volunteers
- Use the Better By Bike Route Planner to find the quickest, quietest or most balanced cycle routes
- Explore Platform, which connects schools with the rail industry and offers free train travel for educational trips
Arrange a free collection and get advice on recycling, composting and food waste by visiting our Schools recycling and rubbish section. You may also want to check our Simpler Recycling page to ensure that your school is compliant with the latest government legislation on waste and recycling.
Introduce more plant rich meals into your school catering
Swapping to more plant‑rich foods is an effective way to lower your environmental footprint.
ProVeg UK’s School Plates programme helps schools introduce more plant‑rich meals, boosting children’s access to nutritious food and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with school catering.
Reduce the impact of your catering
Food for Life, from the Soil Association, provides a selection of sustainable catering certifications, tools and training to help implement sustainable practices across foodservice and catering. This includes a free carbon calculator that tells you what environmental and financial savings you could achieve by making small changes across five areas:
- Go seasonal
- Use less and better meat
- Buy organic
- Buy local
- Reduce food and plastic waste
Preventing food waste
WRAP's Food Waste Reduction Roadmap encourages all food‑service providers to:
- Target: Set a clear reduction goal (e.g., 50% waste reduction)
- Measure: Track food waste by type (plate waste, prep waste, unserved food)
- Act: Use the data to improve menus, procurement, and staff training
Schools reducing waste using this method report cost savings and improved operational efficiency.
Other ways to manage and reduce food waste include:
- Menu planning
- Strengthening procurement practices
- Auditing, tracking and acting on waste data
- Embedding a whole-school sustainability culture through training of staff and engagement of pupils