Benefits of the EcoSchools Program

Become an EcoSchool and your school community will:

Align with and support the framework for environmental education in Ontario – Acting today, Shaping Tomorrow

• Schools and school boards implementing EcoSchools reflect the goals of the framework and respond to the increasingly urgent issue of climate change. More details can be found here

Align with many Ministry of Education policies

• School boards have implemented EcoSchools to support:
  • Character development
  • Safe schools
  • Healthy school communities
  • Numeracy and Literacy
  • Amenangement Linguistique – French-language policy

Inspire, engage and empower today’s youth while developing active citizenship skills and environmentally sound practices

• Program is student-centered and leadership opportunities are woven throughout program
• EcoReview process helps schools assess practices, develop action plans and continually improve to reduce impact on the environment
• Actions are within the sphere of student influence

Develop ecological literacy for all students

• Provides teaching resources linked to the Ontario Curriculum gr. 1-12
• Program kick-starts a systems approach which is central to ecological literacy
• Program connects the dots, points to interconnectedness and puts things in larger contexts to aid learning

Build a caring whole school community engaged in environmental learning and actions that are recognized through the EcoSchools certification

• Provides opportunities for everyone in the school community to work together, develop a plan, implement environmental expectation and celebrate achievements
• Certification provides recognition, assessment and celebration of achievements on an annual basis

Join a province-wide community owned by the public sector

• All publicly funded schools can participate, certify and be recognized for their achievements in six sections free of cost
• 30% of schools and 70% of English-language school boards use the program
• All program materials and resources are free and readily available on the web
• EcoSchools shares best practices, lessons learned and data gathered in order to inform environmental education at every level of the formal education system

Develop capacity within schools and boards to sustain and deepen environmental education and practices

• EcoSchools creates multi-stakeholder EcoTeams within both schools and the school board
• Aligns what is taught in the classroom with school operations (curriculum & facilities)
• Engages schools in the greening of their school grounds to create rich outdoor learning areas that enhance local biodiversity