What is the role of a sustainability lead?

The Department for Education requires all schools to have a sustainability lead. This shouldn’t mean that this responsibility falls on one person.

For your school sustainability initiatives to work effectively, a sustainability steering group should ideally be recruited. This could include a school governor, a member of the senior leadership team, the business manager, catering manager, site manager, staff, parents, and students.

Everyone has a role to play in making our schools more sustainable. Include people in your steering group who ‘are interested in improving sustainability in the school / want to embed sustainability into the culture of the school’.

The nominated Sustainability lead:

• Should drive the development of your school’s climate action plan.
• Work with staff and students to research and coordinate sustainable initiatives to reduce the school’s environmental impact and increase biodiversity on the site.
• Be a point of contact for any queries and liaise with other schools, the local community, and the councils to share initiatives.

If your school is able to recruit a sustainability manager, you may find this helpful from CPD provider – The Key:

Model job description