At Stackpole there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy the natural environment, but we want you to learn to look after it too!

To become an Eco Centre we had to pass an inspection that checks we are running the centre in the best way we can to reduce harm on the environment.

This means that we have to be as sustainable as possible. Being sustainable means trying to think about what our effect on the environment will be, not just today but also in the future.

In this way the earth has a chance of being a pleasant place to live for our children as well as now.

To be awarded our Green Flag we must have an Eco Code, which is a list of aims to try and achieve when at Stackpole. These aims are for everyone; the Stackpole staff, the visiting groups and their teachers.

This is our Eco Code:

1. RECYCLE - DON'T WASTE

2. TAKE ONLY WHAT YOU NEED

3. LOOK AFTER THE ENVIRONMENT - YOU ARE PART OF IT

4. TAPS AND LIGHTS - TURN THEM OFF

5. LEAVE THINGS BETTER THAN YOU FIND THEM

As you can see, fairly simple aims, but they can apply to many parts of life at Stackpole such as:

We recycle - paper, plastic, glass, cardboard and cans, and we only use recycled paper. We recycle as much food waste as possible -How?- by making COMPOST (raw fruit and vegetable remains that break down to make new soil).

We monitor Electricity use and Waste production at the Centre (see our graph of school's energy use in the Document Library). In October 2002, Bryn Deri School from Radyr near Cardiff produced only half a bin bag of rubbish for landfilling- that was with 33 children staying for a week!!

Thanks to reducing our waste at the Centre we have done away with our big wheelie bin altogether.Our average weekly waste is now down to three or four bin bags.

Wherever possible we use environmentally substances eg. Kath uses Ecover washing up liquid and washing powder in the kitchen.

When buying food, we try and buy locally so that we don't use food that's come half way round the world by jet unless we have to.

We use Fairly Traded Tea and Coffee so that the people who grow the stuff get a fair deal too. In our tuck shop we sell delicious Fair Trade chocolate - you probably won't recognise the brands but it tastes really good!!

We are making a wildlife garden with a pond and a bird hide and lots of plants to attract butterflies and bees. We've made lots of hidey holes for frogs, toads and slow worms too.

We clean the beach at Broad Haven when we have a group of keen youngsters to help - on one occasion we collected 17 bags of rubbish - most of which was washed up on the tide.

Our latest news is that we now run our minibuses on 'Biodiesel' - essentially recycled vegetable oil which is 'Carbon Neutral'. That'll be the closest you get to chips all week!

Well that's a few of the things we're doing - what can you do yourself ? At your School you could join the Eco-School Campaign and get a Green Flag like ours (teachers- Estyn (in Wales) recognise this as evidence of Education for Sustainable Development at inspections - whoops, sorry to mention that word!)

See: www.eco-schools.org.uk