Damers First School has been awarded Eco Schools Primary Eco School of the Year Award. Eco-Schools is an international programme of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that aims to “empower students to be the change our sustainable world needs by engaging them in fun, action-orientated and socially responsible learning”. Introduced in 1994 in response to the 1992 UN Rio Earth Summit, Eco-Schools is operated globally by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and is managed in England by Keep Britain Tidy.
Eco Schools is implemented in 67 countries around the world with 19,800 registered Eco Schools in England. Edd Moore, Eco Coordinator at Damers First School represented Damers First School at the Awards Day held at the Etihad Stadium, the home of Manchester City. He met Steve Backshall, adventurer and ambassador for Keep Britain Tidy. Lee Wray Davis the Manager of Eco Schools was also there along with other schools collecting awards.
The school received a trophy and a signed book by Steve Backshall. Eco Schools were very impressed by Damers First School embedding sustainability work across the school curriculum for the past 5 years. They were also very impressed to learn that the children have inspired the local community to act on single use plastic, been to Westminster to meet Michael Gove to discuss the importance of an ‘all in’ system for the Deposit Recycle Scheme with support from CPRE and Litter Free Dorset and appeared on CBBC Newsround.
Edd Moore (pictured below) Eco Coordinator said “I am so proud of all the children who have worked tirelessly to make our school, town and the UK a better sustainable place for themselves and for others. It has been a phenomenal year for our environmental work and something everyone should feel very proud of. To have inspired a school, let alone a community and got their voices heard across the UK is a fantastic achievement. I cannot wait to see where our environmental work goes in 2020”.
Lee Wray-Davis, Manager at Eco Schools said “I feel like I am dealing with Eco Royalty! Damers First School have held the Eco schools Flag since 2016. Children make a pledge to help the environment, people and animals which gives the children the confidence to use their environmental voice locally and nationally. Watch this space I think there will be some world future leaders in environmental action coming from Damers First School”.
Catherine Smith, Headteacher, said that “Every child in Damers recognises the power that they have to make a difference in the world and is encouraged to think about the difference they want to make. I feel incredibly proud of the way that we have woven our sustainability work into an innovative and relevant curriculum at Damers and we are all delighted that the impact that our children have had both locally and nationally has been recognised by Eco Schools in such a significant way.”
