Latest News Updates

Summer Term 2009

Apolgies for the poor updating of this section of the EWE Centre site. I've uploaded the notes from the last two Eco-Schools forum meetings. You will note if you read the Abbey School notes that the network is changing. Pop back soon to find out about the changes that have been made.

Summer Term

The next meeting will be held at The EWE Centre, Esh Winning Primary on Tuesday 17th June 2-4pm. The theme will be school grounds. An agenda will follow.

Spring Term 2008 Network Meeting

The minutes from the Network Meeting held at Hunwick Primary School on 3rd April on the theme of Waste are now available. Click here to read them.

Autumn Term 2007 Network Meeting

The minutes and the presentatiuons from the Network Meeting held at Abbey Juniors on 14th November organised in collaboration with Energy North East are available to download. Click here to read them.

Summer Term 2007 Network Meeting

The minutes and presentation from the meeting held at Staindrop Primary School on Wed 13th June 2007 are now available. Click here to read them.

Spring Term 2007 Network Meeting - Escomb Primary, Healthy Living & Food Theme

The notes from the last Network meeting on Thursday 1st March at Escomb Primary School are available along with the Food In Schools presentation. Click here to view them.

Autumn Term 2006 Network Meeting - Harrowgate Hill Primary, Darlington.

The last network meeting was held at Harrowgate Hill on Tuesday 3rd October, 2-4pm. The meeting had the theme of Biodiversity, it also provided an opportunity to look round their recently built new school. Click here to read the minutes

Summer 2006 Network Meeting - Crook Primary

The minutes from the meeting at Crook Primary with a Global Perspective theme are now available click here to read them.

Toyota Environment and Innovation Competition

The deadline for this competition developed in partnership with Eco-Schools has been extended to 15th July. If you would like to know more visit the Eco-Schools website and click on the news section.

Spring 2006 Network Meeting - Whinfield Primary, Darlington

Minutes from the last meeting are now available. Click here to read them.

Nativity Plays

Just a reminder, if people are struggling for an idea for a nativity play, Graham Temby from Harrowgate Hill Primary in Darlington wrote a script called 'I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas'. Its available from Julie Fulton at Durham Wildlife Trust on 0191 584 3112 for a small donation to the work of the Trust.

Network Meeting -St. Hilds CE Primary, Gilesgate, Durham.

The minutes from the meeting held at the school on 19th October 2005 are available, click here to view the minutes.

Regional Eco-Schools Meeting

As part of the regional strategic partnership we are developing, we are keen to get people who currently support schools through the Eco-Schools process together for a meeting(s) to discuss how we can take forward and enhance the support given to schools across the region. Please contact Rich Hurst on r.hurst100@durhamlea.org.uk if you're interested in being involved.

National Eco-Schools Developments

The revamped Eco-Schools website and process has now been launched visit the website www.eco-schools.org.uk to see it and reregister if you are a school involved. It looks good.

Network Meeting -St. Hilds CE Primary, Gilesgate, Durham.

Another apology folks but this time it wasn't my fault (was it Han Solo who was always saying that) anyhow there was an administration error with getting the agenda's out for the meeting held at St Hilds so only a few schools were able to attend. But the meeting was so good we are going to rerun it on 19th October 2005 at 2pm back at St. Hilds. I will ensure even if I have to hand deliver them that agenda's will get to people in plenty of time for this one.

Minutes from the meeting on 22nd June are available, click on the minutes page to read them.

Spring Term Network Meeting

Apologies folks, there will be no meeting this term for this first time in six years due to a number of reasons that I won't go into. But there will be another network meeting in the summer which will be a bumper edition to make up for it. Apologies again, if you need any specific help, get in touch with the office 0191 373 9799 or e-mail: ewe.centre@durhamlea.org.uk

National Eco-Schools Developments

Unfortunately the national bid from Encams to the Sita Environmental Trust to fund a nationwide support package for schools involved with Eco-Schools has been unsuccessful. Entrust the landfill tax regulator has decided the bid doesn't comply with the regulations. It is a real shame as the bid was backed by many organisations and the DfES and DeFRA. It is hoped however that the joint working relationship built up amongst these national organisations such as Groundwork, RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts can be built upon. It is also hoped that the new process that has been developed by the The EWE Centre team in conjunction with Encams and the partners will still be published on the Eco-Schools website and on a CD-Rom. As soon as I have more details I'll post it on this site.

Network Meeting - Escomb Primary School

The minutes of the last meeting held at Escomb Primary near Bishop Auckland on Thursday 7th October are now available, click here to read them. Thanks to Keith Taylor, Jackie Mason and the pupils who gave an excellent presentation and showed us around the site. We were fortunate to get a visit from the DfES Curriculum Unit who are developing programmes for Sustainable Development and run a programme called Growing Schools. The next meeting will take place in late February, date and venue to be confirmed.

Exciting Times Ahead for Eco-Schools

Its been a busy couple of months for the EWE Centre team. We have been commisioned by Encams (managers of Eco-Schools in the UK) to revamp the existing Eco-Schools handbook to be ready for a relaunch of Eco-Schools later this year. We hope that people will like the new version, we have tried to simple things a little and the assessment process has altered but the quality of work from schools is expected to remain high. Watch this space to find out about the launch of Eco-Schools 2!

Network Meeting - Cassop Primary School

The minutes of the last meeting held at Cassop Primary School in June are now available, click here to read them. Many thanks to Jim McManners and the pupils at the school for their time on the day. The next meeting will take place at Escomb Primary School, Bishop Auckland. The school are currently on their Bronze Award and are proud owners of a Classroom for the Future and some excellent school grounds developments that we will get a tour of.

Network Meeting - Harrowgate Hill Juniors, Darlington

The minutes from the last meeting held at Harrowgate Hill Juniors in February are available, click here to read them. Many thanks to Harrogate Hill for their help, in particular the Eco monitors who gave an excellent presentation. The next meeting will take place at Cassop Primary School on Wednesday 9th June at 2pm.

Network Meeting - Abbey Infants School, Darlington

The minutes from the meeting held at Abbey Infants in October are now on the minutes page, click here to read them. Many thanks to Abbey Infants and Harrowgate Hill Juniors for their reports on the variety of projects they've undertaken to receive the green flag award. The next meeting will again be in Darlington at Harrowgate Hill Juniors on Thursday 26th February 2004 at 2pm.

Changes to Eco-Schools Nationally

Encams who manage Eco-Schools in the UK are changing the way they support schools with the programme. As of the end of July there will no longer be a national team based in Wigan. Encams plan to use existing organisations and their own regional offices to deliver a more locally centred support system. Plans are still to be finalised but the next round of assessments in October will not be affected, watch this space for more information.

Network Meeting

The last meeting was held at Esh Winning Primary School. The meeting included a presentation by pupils from the Esh Winning Eco Committee about their work in the school. It also included a presentation by Karen Edwards from British Gas about the Think Energy programme and the excellent free resources that have been produced. Visit the website www.think-energy.com for more details. Finally the School Grounds team discussed the exciting plans for the grounds at The EWE Centre, unfortunately due to the bad weather we were unable to tour the site. To read the minutes click here. The next meeting will take place at Abbey Infant School, Darlington on 9th October at 2pm.

Contact Details

The EWE Centre is now operational our details are:

The EWE Centre, Esh Winning Primary School, The Wynds, Esh Winning, Co. Durham, DH7 9BE.

Tel: 0191 373 9799.

Fax: 0191 373 6477.

E-mail: ewe.centre@durhamlea.org.uk

Update

As you are all aware, we don't update this site as often as we should, but we've finally gotten around to overhauling things a little bit and adding some new text and news. Hope you find it interesting.

Groundwork National Education Conference

The School Grounds-WasteWise team worked with the 4 North East Groundwork Trusts to stage the conference at St. Aidans College, Durham University for Groundwork Officers who have an impact upon education. Click here to see some of the photo's from the two day event.

Inkjet and Laserjet Cartridge and Mobile Phone Recycling

WasteWise has been researching what different services are available to schools and has produced a factsheet click here to read it.

Sort It Out Pack

This pack produced by the Scottish Environmental Education Council is a good addition to any schools resources. It includes a variety of teaching idea sheets as well as a very good video staring Ian MacCaskill and Grant Stott (formerly of BBC's Fully Booked). The pack costs £10 but you can borrow a copy from the School Grounds office

For more details contact us.

Ollie Recycles

An excellent CD-ROM that investigates the 3 R's is now available through The WasteWise Project free of charge to schools. Suitable for Year 2 and above it is full of fun interactive activities that also link well with the ever expanding website. A must have for any schools interested in waste related activities.

For more details or to reserve a copy contact the team.