Climate Ready Classroom Awards

At Ballyclare Secondary School we are proud to have achieved three green flags since 2018, and work is well underway for our fourth. Environmental work features on our school development plan every year, and departments feed into this important work throughout the school through the delivery of class-based activities, extra-curricular activities and with the help of outside agencies such as Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, the RSPB and Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.
We introduced the OCN NI Level 2 Certificate in Reducing Carbon Footprints through Environmental Action to our Key Stage 4 curriculum last year. This qualification equips learners with knowledge and practical skills to tackle climate change. It covers topics like biodiversity, fast fashion, and waste reduction through project-based learning. We also have brand new pupil leadership opportunities launching soon in conjunction with the RSPB that will allow us to link with local primary schools in the area.
We regularly link with outside agencies to deliver exciting and informative workshops such as the Wee Critters event for Year 8 pupils, Biodiversity Workshops for Year 9 and Fast Fashion Workshops for Year 10. Our Year 11 and 12 Horticulture pupils have also worked hard to create an attractive and welcoming outdoor space for pupils to use at break and lunch and our Take 5 Ambassadors also champion the links between a healthy planet and a healthy mind.
Most recently, one of our Year 10 classes participated in the Your Climate Future session, an informative and interactive workshop delivered by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. In conjunction with the completion of staff training, we’re delighted to qualify for the Climate Ready Classroom Award.

At Bligh’s Lane Nursery School, our practice is rooted in two core values: caring for our environment and embracing the joy of outdoor learning. These principles shape every aspect of nursery life—from our Forest School adventures to our Daily Mile routines. After completing the Daily Mile, the children head to our Daily Calendar wall, where they record the weather using the much loved Weatherbies characters.

The Weatherbies bring climate learning to life, inspire imaginative play, and keep our eco values at the centre of each day. The Weatherbies’ videos continue to enrich our environmental learning, with the recycling episode remaining a firm favourite among the children. Their characters make climate learning fun, memorable, and meaningful.

We are especially proud of our newly completed Forest School area. Woodland Wednesdays have quickly become a highlight of the week, with children pulling on their wellies and outdoor suits to explore, investigate, and enjoy nature. These sessions nurture confidence, curiosity, and a deep respect for the natural world.
Our commitment to sustainability and outdoor learning has been recognised nationally. We were honoured to receive Eco School of the Year in 2022, and in June 2025 we achieved Ambassador School status—the only nursery school in Derry to receive this accolade to date.

Looking ahead, we plan to extend children’s understanding of carbon and climate action through new projects that empower them to see how small actions make a big difference. By caring for the environment in the environment, our children learn that stewardship begins with simple, everyday choices.

At Dromintee Primary School, we are proudly working towards achieving our fourth Green Flag. Our dedicated Eco Committee has been leading energy saving and carbon cutting initiatives throughout the school. Our energy monitors have been keeping a close eye to ensure no energy is wasted and the Eco Committee has been encouraging pupils and teachers to adopt daily habits that help protect our planet.
Miss Lennon, the Eco Coordinator for our school, completed the Climate Smart 1 training to help support our teachers and Eco Committee in educating pupils about climate change, its effects on our world and the steps we can take to reduce emissions. The Primary 6 class in Dromintee also took part in the Your Climate Future workshop, which further explored the current climate challenges facing our world.

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At Loreto College, Coleraine, we’re passionate about sustainability and making a positive impact on our planet. Through the ‘Climate Smart Programme,’ our pupils have gained valuable knowledge and practical skills to tackle climate challenges and understand how small changes can make a big difference. We’re proud to celebrate their learning and commitment to creating a greener future for all.
Mrs McCarry

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Sustainability actions are very important at Malone Integrated College. We are delivering the OCN Level 2 in Reducing Carbon Footprints through Environmental Action, students have been involved with recycling of tin cans to support St James Farm, a waste workshop with Eco schools, and we are about to complete several biodiversity projects improving biodiversity on our site. These include further tree planting (60 trees arrived in school last week for planting!) and the construction of a bug hotel.
The eco club have also received a green flag award in 2024 and we are working towards our second flag in 2026. Biodiversity has been enhanced through the hedgerow hero programme in 2025, managing waste and reducing litter and improving recycling in school. Climate change is taught and discussed in KS3, KS4 and KS5 Geography as well as in Science, RE and in English as a cross curricular theme. It is the focus of students inside and outside the classroom at Malone.


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At Mill Strand Integrated Primary School & Nursery, we’ve built our school around two key ideas. First, we’re passionate about looking after the environment. Second, we believe in learning outdoors—although you need to be brave for that with the wild weather on the North Coast! Four seasons in one day!
The Weatherbies characters have become a fun way for us to learn about our environment and our climate. They help spark imaginative play and keep our eco values at the heart of everything we do, both in lessons and activities.
Eco-friendly living is a big part of everyday life in both our nurseries. Everyone gets involved in green projects, working together with the Primary School as we work towards our 10th Green Flag award. Recycling is important here—we collect food for compost, paper, milk cartons, and bottle tops all the time, so the children get used to caring for the environment from a young age. We only use recyclable water bottles too!
We like to grow things we can eat. We make our surroundings greener with bulbs, seeds, vegetables, fruit, and new trees and bushes.
We’ve just finished our forest school area, which means the children can get outside every day in their wellies and puddle suits. It’s all about enjoying nature, getting hands-on, and learning to look after the world around us. We’ve even got our campfire ready for cooking now!

Every small action can have a big impact if we care enough. Our youngest learners are engaged and ready to ‘save their planet.'

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The children in P6 & P7 have definitely benefitted from the work on Climate Ready Classroom. They are more aware of the issues that our world are facing but even more aware that we can all do something to slow the processes down. The are now aware of the climate change language and the meaning of it and are very keen to promote actions to slow the processed down. They take their eco - school motto serioulsy - "It's God's World - let's look after it." and are keen to promote this awareness school wide and further afield.

At Our Lady of Lourdes, ‘Park Lodge’ Primary School, we are proud to be recognised as a Climate Ready Classroom by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. As a Catholic school community, we are committed to caring for God’s creation and helping our children understand their role as responsible stewards of the world around them.
Through learning across the curriculum, pupils have explored climate change, biodiversity, waste reduction and sustainability, developing both knowledge and practical skills. Our Eco Club has played an active role in leading initiatives within the school, encouraging positive environmental actions such as recycling, energy conservation and growing plants.
The Climate Ready Classroom programme has supported our ethos of growing in faith as we learn and play, shaping bright futures every day, empowering our children to take responsibility, work together and make environmentally conscious choices that will benefit both their local community and the wider world.

The Royal Belfast Academical Institution (RBAI) Eco-club are the first group in Northern Ireland to achieve the Climate Ready Classroom award!
"RBAI values teaching sustainability and climate change awareness because it prepares students for the future, fosters responsible citizens and connects learning to real-world issues. We aim to create informed individuals who can tackle global challenges, build sustainable habits and develop employability skills for the green economy.”
Mr McMullen

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Our topic climate action involved children learning about how greenhouse gases contribute to climate change and how small everyday choices can make a big difference. Throughout this topic, pupils explored the difference between weather and climate and discussed how rising temperatures affect ecosystems, oceans and biodiversity. We discussed how we can reduce our carbon footprint by switching off lights and devices when they were not needed and by making better use of natural daylight. We discussed how we can cut down on waste by encouraging reusable water bottles and lunch containers, reducing single use plastics and reusing paper wherever possible. Caring for nature was an important part of class discussions. The school garden became a focus for a space where we can protect biodiversity by planting wildflowers for pollinators, looking after vegetable beds and created bug hotels to support insects. We also learned about the importance of protecting oceans, so classes took part in litter picking sessions around the school grounds to prevent rubbish from reaching waterways and getting into our oceans. Discussions around fast fashion encouraged pupils to think about the environmental impact of clothing, and classes discussed upcycling. Children were aware of buying second hand clothes in charity shops and Vinted.
Through all these activities, our school showed that small actions taken together can have a powerful impact. By learning, changing habits and caring for our environment, we contributed to a healthier planet and strengthened our commitment to climate action as a school community.
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Principal Mrs. Geraldine O Connor highlights the central role that sustainability education plays at Saint John’s Primary School. Environmental responsibility is a key priority for our school community. All year groups actively participate in a range of eco focused initiatives throughout the academic year. These include our numerous reuse campaigns to include School Uniform, Halloween costume, Christmas Jumper, World Book Day costumes and books recycling campaigns run by the ECO committee. We have completed several biodiversity projects to enhance our school grounds and our community. Most recently we planted spring bulbs as part of the Creggan Bloom initiative. Recent efforts involve additional tree planting from the Lyric Theatre in Belfast and the creation of more bug hotels in our outdoor classroom.
Our Eco Club proudly earned a 4th Green Flag Award in June 2025, and we are now working towards achieving our 5th flag in 2027. Our major action is Climate Action with Waste and Healthy Living as our minor themes. Biodiversity has continued to flourish through programmes such as ‘Big Spring Clean, and planted pollinator plants around our school, alongside improved waste management, reduced litter, and increased recycling across the entire school. Our school has a healthy eating policy for both lunch and breaktime. And we are committed to using reusable bottles in our school.
At Saint John’s Primary School, sustainability remains a shared focus for students both inside and outside the classroom. We work closely with our caretaker ensuring heat is regulated correctly and all bulbs replaced are LED. Our Y5 pupils monitor energy usage across the school and do weekly inspections.

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Our pupils have been busy making St Malachy’s greener than ever. From collecting rainwater in our water butt for gardening and play, to litter picking and creating bee and butterfly gardens, we’re taking real action to protect our planet. We’ve built minibeast hotels, we’ve made bird feeders, grown our own fruit trees and plants, we recycle our food waste, and reused materials for junk art and loose parts play. We’re proud to say: no single use plastics in the Nursery and we use coffee cups made from recycled materials for our parent events.
Mrs Willeen Mooney the Nursery teacher and the Eco-Coordinator for our school completed the Climate Smart Training to help in supporting the Nursery children learn about sustainability and that little actions can make a big impact and to also help in supporting the Eco Council pupils. The Weatherbies' videos are helping with our understanding of the environment- we love the recycling video!
We’re continuing to learn, create, and work together in the Nursery as part of our whole school mission to achieve our Green Flag.
#EcoSchools #Sustainability #OutdoorLearning #StMalachys #GreenFlagJourney #Biodiversity
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Climate change activities are valued in Sullivan Prep because they help our pupils to develop a sense of responsibility and care for their local and global environment from an early age. These activities encourage critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration and they also link directly to WAU when pupils explore environmental change, sustainability and how their actions can make a positive difference.

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Thornhill College fosters a strong and shared commitment to environmental stewardship, empowering both students and staff to take meaningful and informed action through the Eco Schools programme. By valuing student voice and making full use of our natural school environment, we encourage small, sustainable changes that collectively create a lasting impact. These experiences play a vital role in shaping responsible attitudes and developing global citizens who carry this ethos beyond the classroom and into their homes and future communities.
In 2026, we were delighted and honoured to become the first post primary school in Derry to achieve the Climate Ready Classroom Award, a milestone that reflects our whole school commitment to sustainability and climate action.
Central to this achievement was a dedicated cohort of Year 13 Enrichment students with a clear interest in environmental stewardship. Under the guidance of Ciaran Carlin, these students successfully completed Carbon Literacy training online, with 15 students achieving Carbon Literacy Certification—demonstrating both their knowledge and commitment to meaningful climate action. Their work extended beyond the classroom, as they introduced sustainable floral displays throughout the school, reducing reliance on disposable decorations. They also strengthened community connections by organising a school based book collection and donation initiative, which saw 415 books distributed to local care homes and hospital wards, promoting both literacy and sustainability in the wider community.
We take immense pride in maintaining our Green Flag status, viewing it as a reflection of our sustained commitment to environmental responsibility. We recognise the important role schools play in fostering sustainable habits and equipping young people with the knowledge and confidence to make positive environmental choices. As we look to the future, we are excited to embrace new challenges, continuing to provide opportunities for our students to act as advocates for change while strengthening the green ethos that lies at the heart of our school community.