Applying for the Green Flag
How will we know if our school is ready?

If you feel your school has met the Green Flag Award Criteria for each of the seven elements in the Eco-Schools process, then you are ready to apply for the Green Flag Award. Remember that your school must have met all of these criteria before applying.

The Green Flag award is the top level of award in the Eco-Schools programme, and as such, is not based on school self-assessment. Your school will be visited by our Green Flag assessors, who will then decide whether to award the school its Green Flag or not.

When you apply for your first Green Flag, the assessors are not expecting environmental perfection. The Eco-Schools programme is about schools engaging in a process of continuous improvement.

If you have carried out the steps described in the seven elements section to Green Flag criteria level for at least three of the nine environmental topics (NB - The Review should be done for all nine topics) and are willing to continue with this process, then you are ready to apply for the award.

Remember that the Litter topic is mandatory and must be tackled by all schools. Schools with littered grounds and corridors will not be awarded a Green Flag!

What do we need to do to apply for our First Green Flag?

This level of award is not based on school self-assessment. Instead, our assessors will visit your school to see if you have met the Green Flag Award Criteria and are ready to be awarded the Green Flag.

Step 1 - Complete the Application Form

To apply for a First Green Flag Award, you will need to complete the Green Flag application form and answer the Twelve Questions (Click here for a Word version of this document)

We will require two copies of this.

Step 2 - Other information required

We will also require the following:

Please do not any supplementary information. Our assessors will wish to see everything they need on the day of the actual assessment.

Send all of the above information to the Eco-Schools Scotland office in Stirling.

Please read on if you're applying for a Second, Third, or Fourth Green Flag.

We've sent our application - What happens now?

Your application will be checked by our Administration Team to make sure that it contains all of the information we need. They will write to you as soon as possible if anything is missing or incomplete. If your application is for your First Green Flag Award, you will have 30 days from the date on the letter to submit the missing information. If we haven't heard from you by this time, your application will be returned to you, and you can re-submit it as soon as you are ready.

Once we have all of the required information, we will liaise with our Assessors and the school to arrange a suitable date for the assessment to take place.

Please bear in mind that our Assessors' diaries are extremely busy during the Spring and Summer terms. We therefore strongly encourage schools to apply as soon as they can if they wish to be assessed in a particular school year.

Applying for a Second/Third/Fourth Flag

Part A - what we need you to do

Renewing your Green Flag Award is pretty straightforward. There are three key elements to what you need to do:

1. Maintain what you did for previous Flags

Our assessors will want to see evidence that work undertaken for previous Green Flag awards has been maintained. This ongoing work should be detailed in your Action Plans. Remember that the Litter topic is the only mandatory topic and your Action Plans must always contain details of what you are doing to tackle this area.

2. Meet any recommendations given

Our assessors will have sent you a letter with your previous Green Flag and certificate, and if this letter contains any recommendations, they will expect these to have been addressed by the time of your next assessment. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with Eco-Schools Scotland or your local authority representative if you need further advice on what to do.

3. Expand the programme

Eco-Schools Scotland currently offers a menu of nine topics, with the recent addition of the 'Sustaining our World' topic. Schools must conduct the Environmental Review on an annual basis for all nine topics, but they are then free to select which of these they will focus on.

  • For a First Green Flag, we will be looking for in-depth work on a minimum of THREE of the nine topics, one of which MUST be Litter.
  • For a Second Green Flag, we will be looking for evidence that the work done on the topics for the First Green Flag has been maintained, and that the school has added a minimum of a further TWO topics; making a total of FIVE.
  • For a Third Green Flag, we'll expect work from the First and Second Flags to have been maintained, and another two topics to be added; making a total of SEVEN.
  • For a Fourth Green Flag, we'll be looking for the work from Flags 1,2, and 3 to be ongoing, plus ONE more topic; making a total of EIGHT. This allows schools some flexibility when choosing which topics to focus on.

Our sample route guidelines shows how a school could undertake this process.

Schools must also ensure that they have at least one piece of monitoring and evaluation evidence for each topic studied.

Please see our comprehensive renewal guidelines for further information. Our Autumn 2008 newsletter also contains lots of useful hints and tips.

 

Part B - the paperwork

The paperwork for a school applying for a Second, Third, or Permanent Green Flag is similar to the process for the First Green Flag, although we do ask schools to submit one additional piece of information. Please remember that we need TWO copies of everything:

Step 1:

Step 2:

Schools must also enclose:

This information should be sent to the Eco-Schools Scotland office in Stirling.

If your application is incomplete, we will write to you, giving you 30 days to send us the information required. If we have not heard from you by this time, we will call you to discuss the way forward.

Please bear in mind, however, that you run the risk of losing Green Flag status altogether if there is a significant delay.

 

The Assessment Visit

A Green Flag assessment visit usually lasts between 2-3 hours. The assessment visit is designed to be as relaxed and informal as possible and pupils should be involved in every aspect of the day.

During the visit our Assessors will want to be given the opportunity to see/do the following:

  • Speak with the Eco Committee.
  • Meet and talk with all those involved in the school's eco work.
  • See as much evidence as they can regarding the school's eco work - past and present.
  • Be given a tour of the school and grounds, if applicable.
  • Speak with non-Eco Committee pupils/classes.
  • See evidence of whole-school involvement
  • See evidence that pupils are playing a key role in the decision-making, planning and execution of the school's Eco Activities.

Once they have carried out their assessment visit, the assessors will send a report to the Eco-Schools Office in Stirling, allowing us to make a decision on whether or not to grant your school the award.

If you are successful, your school will be given the Eco-Schools Green Flag – an award recognised and used world-wide. It can be displayed in the foyer, in your hall or on a flagpole in the school grounds.

You will also receive a certificate and we will email you the Eco-Schools logo on request, which can be used on your headed paper and any other school materials.