Whole School Sustainability Assessment
‘Where do we even begin?’
The scope of sustainability can seem overwhelming! At The Ripple Effect, we work with your school to establish strong foundations through a comprehensive Whole School Sustainability assessment. This baselining process equips your school with the insights needed for strategic planning, goal setting, and tracking progress. The result is a detailed Sustainability Baseline Report, and the full set-up of a sustainability tracking and collaboration dashboard for your school.
Assessment Framework
Whole School Sustainability (WSS), a research-based approach adopted by leading organizations such as UNESCO, the Australian Association for Environmental Education, the US Center for Green Schools, and the Green Schools Alliance, is considered the ‘gold standard’ for school sustainability. Whole School Sustainability takes a three-pronged approach, holistically integrating sustainability into:
Educational Programs — are students equipped to tackle tomorrow’s challenges with knowledge, skills, agency and optimism?
Organizational Culture — is sustainability pursued in our governance and day-to-day operations?
Buildings & Grounds — is our school a healthy learning and working environment that is reducing its environmental impact?
Using the START framework and tool developed by The Green Schools Alliance, we collaborate with your stakeholders — principals, academic heads, facilities managers, staff, and student leaders — to establish your Whole School Sustainability baselines across 50+ metrics, as well as baselines for your school’s energy, waste, water and emissions. With a comprehensive Sustainability Report, and a dashboard where you can track and visualize your progress over time, your school can make step-by-step progress towards holistic sustainability.
