Eco-Schools and Outdoor Learning

In June of 2026, both ISF Waterloo and  ISF Tervuren were awarded the Eco Schools Green Flag!

This recognition celebrates the commitment of our whole school community and reflects our school's ongoing dedication to sustainability, environmental responsibility, and educating our students to become thoughtful global citizens.  

During the process with MOS, we were proud to showcase the many environmental projects and initiatives undertaken over the past few years, as well as the lasting positive impact they have had on our school and local environment. We were especially excited to share details of our current project: the redevelopment of our wildlife area into a vibrant community space that will support learning, play, well-being, and a deeper connection with nature for all members of our school community.

We are excited to continue building on this success by further developing our campus and creating meaningful opportunities for our students to play an active role in making our world greener, more sustainable, and more environmentally responsible.

Why not visit us and learn more about our Eco Projects?

 

A Green Flag school ensures that we have: 

1. Efficient use of resources

2. A healthy and green environment

3. A curriculum that includes ecological issues

4. Nutritious food

5. Sustainable community practices

 

Why become a Green school?

In our ISF mission, we strive to develop students who are life-long learners, adaptable world citizens sensitive to their communities. We believe that making ISF an Eco-Friendly Green school will help us build knowledge, skills, understanding, and positive attitudes in these concepts and issues. The activities such as recycling, planting vegetables and putting animal feeders are pupil-centred, so they are actively involved in making a difference.

What do we do?

• Work together as a community towards the Green Flag of the Eco-Schools Programme by following seven steps.

 

 

 

 

 

When creating our Action Plans, they are broken into ten Eco-Schools topics below. 

• Biodiversity, caring for all plants, animals and insects.

• Energy, reducing energy use and investigating greener energy sources.

• Global Citizenship, working with others on local and global issues.

• Healthy Living, improving mental and physical well-being.

• Litter, taking action to reduce litter in your local area and beyond.

• Marine, protecting rivers, canals, lakes, oceans and the plants and animals that inhabit them.

• School Grounds, enhancing your learning environment.

• Transport, travelling in an environmentally-friendly manner.

• Waste, refusing, reducing, reusing, repairing and recycling.

• Water, protecting our most important natural resource.

We have a weekly ISF community Eco-challenge to raise awareness of environmental issues and encourage our community to get involved.  

Outdoor Learning

ISF is fortunate to have spacious green outdoor areas, and as a result, our students benefit from the opportunity to experience regular outdoor learning activities.   We utilise these outdoor areas to extend learning activities and encourage our students to discover and engage with the natural world outside of the classroom.  Outdoor learning and play brings many health benefits, encourage children to develop their social and emotional skills, and teach them empathy,  responsibility, and creativity. 

In addition, our Pre-school has an outdoor area adjoining the classrooms to allow children to explore with water and sand play outdoors.  Our planting gardens, composting, and weather stations allow children to learn in nature providing a calming environment for students to build a strong sense of well-being.