This award program is set up to help schools become sustainable and each school works with the children to achieve one of three awards; the bronze and silver awards which are self-accredited or the prestigious Green Flag Award which is externally assessed by an administrator.

The schools participating must elect a team or ‘eco-committee’ made up of a representative from each year level and a staff member. The eco team then carries out an environmental review of their school to see how well it shapes up in terms of environmental performance. This gives them a realistic view of their good environmental practices as well as areas that need improvement.

The eco-team review needs to include the nine key topics of the eco-schools program- water, biodiversity, energy, global perspectives, healthy living, litter, school grounds, transport and waste.

The team them consults with the school and the rest of the community which themes they wish to tackle. There may be one particular area they wish to address such as recycling, but it is up to the children to choose which they will choose.

Eco-school environmental review then becomes the foundation for the school’s environmental action plan. The eco-schools program is not just available in Australia, but operates in 40 countries worldwide. More than 40, 00o  schools have adopted the environmental program that gives children the change to explore environmentally friendly ideas.

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Most parents will drive their child to school- even if it is only a 5-minute walk away- and most will do so for convenience. There are hundreds of cars on the road in the morning all trying to get to the one destination and maybe get then get to work.

The drive or walk debate has prompted many schools to try and work with parents to ease the traffic burden. Both parents and schools are working together to try and come up with more community-friendly alternatives.

One of the most successful schemes is the walking school bus, where children make their way to school on foot in a supervised group. This helps to reduce the cars on the road, cuts down on pollution and also helps to keep children fit and healthy.

The size of the walking bus can change, depending on how many children live within close proximity to the school. Larger walking school buses will have operational pick up points where the group will pick up children along the way.

There are adult supervisors so that your child is never unattended and can get to school safely. So if you live in close range to the school and don’t have time to walk with your child, get them to jump on the walking bus for a healthy, environmentally friendly walk to school.

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