Eco-Schools is an international award programme that guides schools on their sustainable journey, providing a simple framework to help make sustainability an integral part of school life. The aim is to bring about behaviour change in young people and those connected to them so that good habits learned in schools are followed through into homes and communities.

Our children are the driving force behind Eco-Schools – they form and lead our Eco-Committee and help to carry out audits to assess our environmental performance. In conjunction with the rest of the school and the wider community, the children decide the environmental themes they want to address and how they’re going to do it.

Holy Cross has currently achieved the Bronze and Silver awards. We are now working towards the Green Flag award.

At Holy Cross Catholic Primary School we respect all children's rights and ensure we teach children about their rights. We have a Rights Respecting Steering Group who meet regularly to discuss current issues and ideas to develop the schools' understanding of their rights further. We successfully gained the Gold Award in September 2019! We are super proud of all our children because they know and respect the rights of others, and are active global citizens.

Schools of Sanctuary is a growing network of more than 300 primary and secondary schools all committed to supporting the thousands of young people seeking sanctuary in the UK, creating a culture of welcome and inclusion whilst raising awareness of the issues faced by refugees and asylum seekers.

Holy Cross achieved the CAFOD Live Simply Award in July 2024. Live Simply is a response to Pope Francis' invitation to 'work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us.' Live Simply is awarded to parishes, schools and communities who can clearly demonstrate how they have been living simply, sustainably, and in solidarity with the world’s poorest communities.

Over the last eighteen months, we worked with the staff and the children to produce a school Live Simply action plan, which was approved by the CAFOD Live Simply team, and carried out the range of faith inspired actions based on the three key themes. Despite achieving this award, we will continue to answer Pope Francis’ call to Live Simply and carry on our good work with collaboration with our parish, families and communities; there are many more exciting opportunities for us to take part in.

The Health for Life Award is a nationally recognised programme promoting an ethos and
environment that encourages a proactive approach to developing a healthy lifestyle. It
focuses on growing food, healthy eating and cooking and physical activity. Here at Holy
Cross we have transformed our Forest School area to create an allotment, planted an
orchard, developed a progressive cooking curriculum to allow our children to learn basic
cooking skills and get hands on with their food.