A Perth school was the scene of an international environmental landmark.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney visited St John’s RC Academy on Friday to present pupils and staff with the 2,000th Eco-School Green Flag.
Eco-Schools is the largest sustainable schools programme in the world and is designed to encourage action on sustainable development education issues.
It’s operated internationally by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and delivered by the charity Keep Scotland Beautiful.
Mr Swinney said: “I am delighted to present St John’s Academy with its Green Flag and congratulate all of the pupils and school staff on becoming our 2,000th eco school, making Scotland an international leader through all their hard work.
“It is especially impressive when you learn about how the eco group built up its numbers, encouraging children from nursery through to secondary, as well as school staff, to think more about their impact on the environment and how they could make positive changes within their school.”
Sean Hagney, head teacher at St John’s RC Academy, added: “St John’s RC Academy is delighted to receive our Green Flag — the 2,000th in Scotland and our first as an all-through school. Our Eco-group grew out of our primary into both the nursery and the secondary, with some pupils being active Eco members for many years.
“This award recognises our commitment to sustainable education and I congratulate the pupils, parents and staff of the nursery, primary and secondary on this achievement, as well as our wider community partners. It recognises the huge variety of learning which takes place in school to help make our world a better place for now and into the future, from planting vegetables in our community garden, to  recycling waste and being a Fairtrade and Rights Respecting School.”
Keep Scotland Beautiful trustee Bruce Robertson said awarding 2,000 flags is a “significant achievement” and testament to the success of the programme.
“We’re thrilled Scotland is the first country worldwide to reach this impressive milestone,” he commented.
“Achieving a Green Flag is not easy because a school has to demonstrate that it has the correct ethos across everything it does to enable its young learners to understand what their part is in a sustainable global future.”
He continued: “For more than two decades Keep Scotland Beautiful has committed to supporting our children to develop an understanding of the global and local environmental issues they face now and in the future. More than a million young people have benefited from environmental learning through Eco-Schools Scotland.
“We are particularly grateful to the Scottish Government for their funding of this activity and look forward to launching a refresh of the programme later this year.”
