PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Use Tuesday 13 February 2007
The greening of our schools
More young people than ever before are taking an active interest in the environment and the government have been increasingly pressing education toward sustainability for several years now. The Prime Minister himself has said:
“Sustainable development will not just be a subject in the classroom; it will be in its bricks and mortar and in the way the school uses and even generates its own power. Our students won’t just be told about sustainable development, they will see and work within it: a living, learning place in which to explore what a sustainable lifestyle means.”
This year has been declared a Year of Action for Sustainable Development in schools and the government are responding to the public consultation on their sustainable strategy for schools with what appear a very positive set of initiatives. They have already begun investing over £45 billion in the redevelopment of all primary and secondary school buildings over the next 15 years. Much of this money is expected to be ‘directed’ to a handful of framework organisations but with the sheer magnitude of the project it’s unlikely that they will be able to cope on their own.
SCEMES Ltd are a business who have been providing education with free directories of suppliers, both online and in book form, for eight years now and have recently launched a database of suppliers of sustainable products and services. This will be complemented by the publication in the spring of the first Headteachers and Bursars Handbook Of Sustainable Procurement. This will be made available, free of charge, to every educational establishment in the UK.
In fact SCEMES’ Marketing Director, Robin Mathias, is very pleased with the results of a recent mail out to all the LEAs in the county concerning the Handbook.
“We’re absolutely amazed by the response so far. Only this morning we were called by a Director of Education who offered to personally collect the handbooks from us and deliver them to all the schools in his area!”
The handbook will feature articles by leading environmental organisations with an interest in education such as Eco-schools, BRE, Waste Watch, Sustrans, the Centre for Research in Education and the Environment at the University of Bath and Learning through Landscapes.
David North who is responsible for editing the guide explained:
"The articles offer educational buyers an easy entry point into every aspect of sustainable development for schools, whilst the rest of the book includes details of funding and grant opportunities, a directory of green businesses, case studies, and just about everything a school or college might need in developing a sustainable procurement policy.”
SCEMES have been actively promoting their sustainable procurement services within schools, most notably through their national poetry competition on the theme of the environment which has won some significant support from the likes of Jonathon Porritt, Defra, the Arts Council for Wales and the DfES to name a few.
“We anticipate a tremendous response to our database and handbook.” said Robin, “This could well be the beginning of a revolution, not just for education but throughout the public sector.”
If you be interested in using SCEMES’ marketing services to reach the education sector, locally or nationally, then call 01691 664191 and ask for Gary.
SCEMES have stall E75 at the Education Show 2007 which takes place at the Birmingham NEC from March 22-24. For FREE tickets to The Education Show 2007 contact the hotline on 0870 429 4580 or to pre-register in advance via the website at www.education-show.com.
ENDS
Words 641