We are proud to announce that we are now accredited members of Green Standard Schools.
By becoming members of Green Standard Schools, we are continuing with our commitment to keep our business as sustainable as possible. Membership keeps us accountable and makes us assess our impact on the environment on an even more regular basis.
Listen to this podcast with Green Standard Schools founder and our Green Lead, Lindsay Williams. Lindsay discusses our innovative Climate Care Charge: https://greenstandardschools.o...
Caring for the environment has always been close to our hearts at ECS Scotland, so in 2023, we decided to put our money where our mouth is and make it a part of our official school policy.
We applied for accreditation by Green Standard Schools (GSS), a non-profit organisation which aims to promote environmental sustainability in language teaching institutions everywhere, by providing leadership, guidance and support to educational authorities, teaching institutions, teachers and learners.
The application was long and detailed, and made us think a lot about how the school runs. What do we do with dead toner cartridges? What kind of detergent are we using to clean the toilets? Who do we buy our biscuits from??
After a few weeks of waiting, in February 2024, we were approved for accreditation!
This means that, not only will you be seeing the GSS logo on our communications, but we have also signed up to the GSS 12 commitments:
- Reduce the amount of energy consumed in the school and switch to sustainable energy suppliers where possible
- Reduce the amount of water consumed in the school
- Reduce the amount of paper consumed and move towards a paperless operation
- Discourage the use of pointless plastics by all staff, students and suppliers
- Reuse and recycle everything brought into the school that can usefully be reused or cycled
- Reduce the environmental impact of purchases e.g. by using local supply chains
- Reduce the environmental impact of all marketing activities
- Compensate for the carbon generated by students and staff travelling to the school – especially international students!
- Encourage providers of accommodation services to adopt sustainable practices
- Include activities that benefit the environment in the school’s programme of social activities
- Ensure that all staff and students are aware of the school’s environmental policies
- Systematically include environmental issues in the teaching curriculum
We will be adding information on our environmental progress to the notice board in the coffee room, including water and energy usage, and recycling, and will also keep gently reminding our students about single-use plastics.
On top of that, we will continue to donate the money raised via the Climate Care Charge to the Woodland Trust and Trees For Life. And we will add our Environmental Policy to the ECS Scotland website, so it’s available for anyone who is interested.
Look out for regular updates on ECS Scotland social media!
