Beyond the Biscuit Tin: How to Get the Most From Your School Eco Group

A practical guide for your school eco group. You know, the one that meets on a Tuesday lunchtime. There are eight committed pupils, some well-meaning snacks, and the keen teacher who has somehow ended up running it on top of everything else. They discuss the recycling bins, maybe someone suggests a poster. A litter pick is planned for next term.

Nobody is doing anything wrong. But nobody is doing very much, either.

The school eco group; eco council, green team, sustainability committee, whatever you call it – is a hugely underused asset in climate education. Done well it could be a vehicle for genuine pupil leadership, real school change, and the kind of meaningful action that actually shifts how young people feel about climate change. Done poorly though and it can just be a group of enthusiastic pupils who quickly learn that their enthusiasm doesn’t really go anywhere.

The problem with most school eco groups

Most school eco groups share a handful of common features that limit what they can achieve:

the teacher decides what the group works on, often based on what is manageable rather than what pupils actually care about
pupils are asked for ideas, but the real decisions happen elsewhere. They quickly learn that their voice is not impactful.
litter picks, awareness posters, and themed days are valuable, but they rarely change anything structural about how the school operates
the eco group operates as a separate club, disconnected from the curriculum, the school council, the senior leadership team, and the wider community
it can be too reliant on the one teacher who runs it

None of this is a criticism of the teachers or pupils involved – I’ve been in many schools, and I know that it is a structural problem. These groups, like many others in schools are often set up in a way that limits what it can do, regardless of how committed the people in it are.

Start with a different question

Instead of your eco-group asking “what shall we do this term?” ask “what do you want to change?”.

The distinction matters because whilst the first question invites activity. The second invites leadership and ownership. The difference between an eco group that does things and one that changes things is largely a question of whether pupils have real ownership of the agenda.

At the start of each year, or each term, give your school eco group a genuine brief, maybe you can start with the climate action plan, areas needing most progress, and ask what they think should be the focus. Then make sure that you genuinely listen to their ideas.

This shift can feel uncomfortable at first, particularly if you are used to a more structured club format. Pupils may not immediately know what they want to change or they may suggest things that seem unrealistic – but that’s fine! Your job is to help them refine and focus their ideas, not to replace them with safer ones.

School eco-groups – real impact, not visible activity

Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with litter picks, planted raised beds, or awareness assemblies. (Though anyone who knows me, knows that I have a real issue with litter pics, but that’s for another day!) But if these are the main things your eco group does, ask honestly: what has actually changed as a result?

Real impact in a school context means things like:

A change to the school’s procurement policy, e.g. switching to sustainably sourced paper, or reducing single-use plastic in the canteen
A successful pitch to governors for solar panels, improved insulation, or a bike shelter
A biodiversity action plan for the school grounds, developed by pupils and actually implemented
A new curriculum unit on climate change, co-designed with pupils and delivered to a year group
A formal presentation to the senior leadership team – with data, recommendations, and a request for resources
A partnership with a local organisation that brings genuine expertise and real-world projects into school

These things could be hard for some pupils- and they require pupils to develop research skills, communication skills, and the ability to make a case to people with more power than them. Which is precisely why they are more valuable, educationally as well as practically. They also require buy-in from other members of staff and school community.

Develop real leadership for your eco-group not just roles

Most eco groups have a chair, a secretary, maybe a treasurer. These are roles, but they are not necessarily leadership. Real leadership development can be encouraged however:

Identify a problem and propose a solution independently
Gather evidence and data to support their case
Present to an audience with real decision-making power e.g. governors, headteacher, local councillors
Manage a project with a timeline, a budget, and accountability
Recruit and brief other pupils, including those outside the eco group
Communicate with external organisations – businesses, charities, local authorities

At Hedingham School in Essex, a single student leader, with her geography teacher, led the school eco council to achieve Green Flag status: secured trees from the Woodland Trust, obtained recycling bins, ran a litter picking programme across all form groups, and represented the school at a Climate Change Conference where she presented to primary school headteachers.

The question for any eco group is: are we giving pupils the opportunity to do things that actually develop them – or are we keeping them busy with things that are safe and manageable? These things can take time and resources however, so make sure that the time in is getting the results it deserves ±

Connect the eco group to the rest of the school

An eco group that operates in isolation will always be limited in what it can achieve. The most effective ones are deeply connected to the rest of the school’s life:

Connect to the school council

The school council and the eco group often operate as parallel bodies that rarely talk to each other. Where they work together, maybe by sharing agendas, presenting to each other, co-developing proposals – both become more effective.

Connect to the curriculum

The eco group’s work should not be separate from what pupils are learning in lessons. A Year 9 geography class studying carbon footprints can feed data into the eco group’s energy audit. A Year 10 science group studying ecosystems can support the biodiversity project. An English group can write the report that goes to governors. Making these connections explicit is the sustainability lead’s job – and it transforms the eco group from a club into a genuine cross-curricular project.

Connect to senior leadership

Pupils who present their work to the headteacher or senior leadership team, and who receive a real response, understand that their voice matters in a way that no amount of classroom discussion can convey. Build in at least one formal presentation to leadership per year. Give pupils genuine feedback on their proposals: what will be taken forward, what cannot be done and why, what more information is needed.

Connect to governors

If your governing board has a sustainability link governor, the eco group should know who they are and have a route to communicate with them. A brief from the eco group, even a one-page summary of what they are working on and what they need, will be useful to the governors and showcase what the school is doing.

Connect to the community

Local sustainability groups, businesses, wildlife trusts, and community organisations can all be really usueful for an ambitious eco group. A partnership with a local organisation gives pupils access to expertise, resources, and a sense of being part of something bigger than the school, which should have a big impact on motivation.

What this looks like in practice: a connected eco group

Term 1: Eco group conducts a school energy audit using tools from the DfE Sustainability Support portal. Data is shared with the geography department (used in a Year 8 lesson on carbon footprints) and with the school business manager.

Term 2: Eco group prepares a proposal for energy efficiency improvements, supported by data from the audit. They present to the headteacher and sustainability link governor. The school commits to a review of energy contracts and a small grant application.

Term 3: Eco group works with the local wildlife trust to develop a biodiversity plan for the school grounds. Year 7 science classes contribute habitat surveys. The plan is presented at a whole-school assembly led by eco group members.

Throughout: Eco group meets with school council each half term to share updates and align on priorities. A termly one-page briefing goes to the senior leadership team.

Result: Changes to energy use, a funded biodiversity project, curriculum connections across three subjects, and a cohort of pupils who have actuallyt led something.

Plan for sustainability of the group itself

The single biggest structural weakness in most eco groups is their dependency on one adult. When that person leaves, moves roles, or simply gets too busy, the group can often disappear. Building a group that can outlast any individual member, adult or pupil, requires some deliberate planning:

projects, contacts, decisions, what worked and what did not. A simple shared folder is enough. New members and a new teacher advisor should be able to pick up where others left off
senior eco group members should spend time with newer ones, passing on context, relationships and institutional knowledge
rather than one teacher who runs it alone, aim for a small team of staff with different skills who share the support. Even two adults is significantly more resilient than one
a group that appears on the school timetable, has a line in the school development plan, and reports to governors is far harder to lose than one that exists only as a lunchtime club
when year groups move on, mark the handover deliberately.

Useful frameworks and resources

You do not need to start from scratch. Several well-established frameworks can help structure your eco group’s work:

The bottom line

Done well, a school’s eco group is one of the most powerful tools a school has for developing the next generation of climate leaders – and for actually moving the school’s sustainability agenda forward.

The difference between a group that drinks tea and discusses recycling and one that changes how a school operates is largely a matter of structure, ambition, and trust. Trust that pupils can handle real responsibility and show that their ideas are worth taking seriously.

Try giving them something real to do – you might be surprised by what they do.

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If you would like support developing your eco group or connecting it to your school’s climate action plan, get in touch.

Also in the notyetzero practical guide series

When Climate Education Feels Political

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