APPENDIX 45
Letter and memorandum to the Clerk of
the Committee from Norfolk Education Advisory Service
I am writing with regard to the Environmental
Audit Committee Inquiry and to communicate how Norfolk has taken
forward work on EfSD. Eighteen months into my appointment as Head
of Norfolk Environmental Education Service (NEES) and EfSD (a
new service located within the Norfolk Education Advisory Service)
I summarise how the Service has enabled a coordinated and strategic
approach towards building capacity to support school communities
with EfSD, and how this enables Government and Norfolk County
Council policy to be translated and acted upon in a way that benefits
schools.
The Sustainable Development Education Panel
reports have guided the Service and these have been extremely
valuable, as have been the CEE guidance through its publications
and newsletters. The QCA—ESD website has also been invaluable
and schools accessing it are very complimentary of it. The Service
now promotes this resource at every opportunity.
The County has two LEA Field Study Centres that
form part of the Service (Holt Hall and Wells Field Study Centres)
and these play a major role in raising achievement through quality
"learning out of doors" and through the environmental
context. These offer curriculum and QCA-related courses and INSET.
Wells is itself an Eco Centre and sustainability is at the very
heart of all its courses and work with schools (INSET programme
is yo follow by post).
The Service has also built up, and is promoting,
a much wider partnership framework to support schools (please
see attached Service Aims and Introduction document)and the Service
works with district councils, charities, statutory bodies, academic
establishments (including universities and colleges) and businesses
to provide the most comprehensive and appropriate support possible.
These partnerships extend to developing programmes in areas where
there is a gap in provision in the County and thus require joint
grant applications and supporting of bids, as appropriate. (I
will send an appendix from the Full Service Plan which specifies
these areas by post. The Service Plan itself now forms the basis
on which performance review and objectives for the Service are
set).
The Norfolk Schools' Environment Awards programme
serves as a "portal" and aims to recognise and celebrate
EfSD work in the county. This is backed up by a website that signposts
schools to support in the "management areas" but also
links them to the 33 INSET programmes that back up this work.
They include, to name a few:
— EfSD through school grounds with
a focus on composting.
— Energy INSET focusing on citizenship
and wise resource management.
— Enhancing the delivery of the citizenship
programme through waste action.
— Practical approaches for exploring
and embedding sustainable development into the curriculum and
school life etc.
These INSETs are again delivered in partnership
with local and national providers and aim to link the curriculum
with ACTION, through the key "management areas" (Hard
copy to follow).
Please see website www.esinet.norfolk.gov.uk/envaward
and specifically look at the support network sections which signpost
to national and local support that schools can easily access.
Other dialogues/programmes include:
— Input into the sustainable construction
agenda in order to influence PFI and school construction with
the relevant designs and technologies (incl. renewables as grant
funding allows) so that the building itself becomes an inspiring
learning tool and a vehicle for promoting more sustainable behaviour!
(eg waste reduction and recycling, biodiversity, transport, energy
etc.) Please see "Hierarchy" which will again be forwarded
by post.
— The combining of outdoor education
with EfSD in a number of situations to develop the synergies between
the two and enhance provision eg. The Norfolk NOF 3 outdoor education
bid.
— Gifted and Talented programmes through
EfSD with a major outdoor learning provider.
Finally, EfSD features significantly in the
Norfolk Education Development Plan 2 and
a focus for the next year will be in illustrating
where EfSD has directly contributed to raising standards.
I hope this gives you a taste of what is happening
in Norfolk.
Norfolk Environmental Education and EfSD
Service Introduction and Aims
1. INTRODUCTION
The Norfolk Environmental Education Service
comprises of Schools' Environmental Education Services, Holt Hall
Field Study Centre and Wells Field Study Centre. The Service is
part of Norfolk Education Advisory Service
The Service is dedicated to working in partnership
(with Council Departments and Districts, statutory bodies, charities,
F.E. establishments and businesses) to promote high quality environmental
education opportunities for Norfolk schools, this includes;
— Education for Sustainable Development.
— Quality learning out of doors.
— Comprehensive support for school
communities.
It is our aim that the Environmental Education
Service will play a fundamental contribution to achieving the
goals and objectives of the County Council and the priorities
of the Education Service.
The Service looks beyond the boundaries of Environmental
Education and fully embraces Education for Sustainable Development.
The Service objectives reflect this and our work is aimed at providing
opportunities for a range of learning experiences, that help to
establish the relevant skills, knowledge and first-hand experience
necessary to work towards building more sustainable futures.
The Environmental Education Service's key areas
of work are in:
— Raising achievement, school improvement
and support (Education Development Plan 2 (EDP 2)).
— Developing resources for effective
Environmental Education (including assets and programmes).
— Promoting social and educational
inclusion (EDP 2).
— Supporting learning throughout life
(Norfolk County Council priority).
— Supporting the protection and enhancement
of Norfolk's environment (school grounds and beyond) (NCC priority).
To achieve this we will be:
— Developing an Environmental Education
Service Structure that works in partnership, enhances communication
and promotes staff well-being.
2. PROJECT MAP
(Shows Framework, Partners and Programmes)
3. SERVICE OBJECTIVES
— To ensure that all schools have access
to guidance and support, so as to ensure that they maximise opportunities
to develop knowledge, values, skills and attitudes in order to
participate in decisions about the way we do things individually
and collectively (locally and globally), that will improve the
quality of life for everyone, now and into the future.
Quality of life indicators include environmental,
social, and economic factors; the overarching approach: that of
Education for Sustainable Development.
— To support all schools to develop
an ethos, policy and practice, towards becoming more environmentally
focused (in terms of waste, energy, transport, grounds and biodiversity,
global and community perspectives) and to provide a framework
that will work for all schools, whatever their starting point
and individual requirements.
— To utilise the best practices in
order to inspire learning and improve standards. To develop and
enhance opportunities in all areas of overlap with the formal
curriculum, so as to encourage the use of the environmental context
and outdoor environment in a planned and progressive way.
— To work with School Councils and
"through" the Citizenship Curriculum in order to facilitate
informed and sustained action for the environment. To help make
pupils the "valued" agents of change in their own schools
and communities.
— To manage the Norfolk Schools' Environmental
Awards and "Greenscene" publication in partnership with
P&T and to communicate, share and celebrate good practice.
— To ensure that Wells and Holt Field
Study Centres are well resourced to support and enhance the work
of schools in achieving EfSD within the curriculum. To play a
lead in the development of practical and investigative fieldwork
both within school grounds and beyond. For the Centres to be widely
recognised as quality providers of residential outdoor learning
for Norfolk Schools'.
— To agree and communicate Centre objectives
and priorities. To establish business and development plans, effective
joint marketing and the widespread dissemination of good practice.
We will remain proactive in adapting to our customers' requirements
and in seeking out other relevant opportunities that will enhance
the Centre's work and fulfil the objectives of the County Council
and Education Authority.
— To work with colleagues in the Centres,
Advisory Service and with partners to develop and deliver high
quality INSET.
— To remain proactive in establishing
symbiotic partnerships that will enhance the Service's work in
all areas, thus helping the Service to expand in a manageable
way, build on other partners' work and commitment to the same
objectives, and to provide the most cost effective service possible.
— To work cross-departmentally with
colleagues in the Norfolk Education Advisory Service and the County
Council, to ensure the formulation and implementation of Environmental
Management Systems. To have an input into NCC policy and strategy
as appropriate.
— To work with Education Department
(Planning and Buildings) colleagues to ensure that the most relevant
environmental technologies are sourced, funded, monitored, effectively
interpreted and utilised as learning tools.
— To grasp opportunities, where appropriate,
to transform the concept of sustainable schools, which are the
hub of their communities, into a reality. In its widest sense,
this would consider: building design and materials, waste, energy
and raw material minimisation, fully integrated grounds, local
business and community synergies and pupil empowerment.
— To work towards a positive, supportive
and effective management structure and ethos that builds confidence,
harnesses creativity and recognises responsibility and commitment.
To establish and communicate a shared identity.
— To research, communicate, enable
and secure relevant grant opportunities and to ensure that all
aspects of the service provide best value.
February 2003
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