Deaf Academy wins prestigious Green Flag award

-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Eco-Schools award Eco-conscious students at the Deaf Academy have received international recognition for their work promoting sustainability and environmental awareness.

Initiatives run by a committee of students and staff over the past year include food waste management, recycling projects, creating a wildflower area and building bug hotels. They also ran a successful clothes swap to promote recycling and waste reduction, raising more than £300 to be reinvested in the scheme.

Their dedication has now earned the academy a Green Flag award, with distinction, as part of the Eco-Schools programme.

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Established in 1994, the global programme aims to empower young people to protect our planet.

The students followed Eco-Schools’ ’seven-steps’ framework to create positive change, and a student-led committee was created to spearhead the environment initiatives.

Deputy head of school Jo Fison, who chaired the committee, said: “Students in our Eco Schools committee have worked incredibly hard and are thrilled to be awarded the Eco Schools Green Flag with distinction. ” The academy also partnered with the Budleigh Salterton Lions Club to help keep the community clean by picking up litter around areas of Exmouth.

Vice district governor and former president of Budleigh Salterton Lions Club Richard Allen said: “We were delighted to have the opportunity to help the Deaf Academy become an Eco-School and achieve the prestigious Green Flag award.

“The students have done a fantastic job protecting nature and habitats by removing rubbish from our local environment and preventing harmful materials from entering the sea and harming ecosystems, marine life and the community. ”