Introductions: Green Flag High Schools in Belgium, Finland, Greece, Portugal and Romania

The Collège Saint-Barthélemy, Liège, Belgium 

The Collège Saint-Barthélemy is situated in the city of Liège. It has about 1.500 students and 150 staff members. Anxious to address environmental and health concerns for many years, our school has followed the objective to obtain the "AGENDA 21" quality label. We already got a first quality label called "School for Tomorrow" in June 2008 and felt that we were on the right track to go on. In 2010 we got the "3 planets" label, the highest reward for eco-schools in Belgium.

Laanila High School, Oulu, Finland 

Laanilan Lukio is a high school of approximately 300 students and 25 teachers in the city of Oulu. Oulu is situated at the sea of Gulf Botnia in northern Finland.

Since spring 2009 our school has had the status of an Eco-school. We have an active green flag-group of students who plan and implement activities related to sustainable development tutored by teachers. Recently, our themes have been co-operation with the societies in the neighbourhood area and diminishing of waste recycling. During the ongoing school year, our main focus is to reduce energy consumption.

The 4th Lyceum of Thessaloniki, Greece

The 4th Lyceum of Thessaloniki is situated in the historical centre of the city near its coast. It is one of the oldest schools in the city (established in 1933). The number of students is 118. The staff consists of 20 teachers. The students and teachers of the 4th Lyceum of Thessaloniki think that their participation in this program will sensitize them more towards the environmental issues in Europe and develop their language skills as well.

Sà de Miranda School, Braga, Portugal 

Sà de Miranda School is situated in Braga, a city with a vast historical and cultural heritage in the North of Portugal. The total number of students who enrolled at the beginning of the present school year is around 1425, 825 of whom attending Scientific-Humanistic courses, and 500 attending Vocational courses. Trying to cope with the challenges of such a heterogeneous school population, it is the school's priority to foster the holistic development of all its members, by promoting personal and academic growth.

GRUPUL SCOLAR "ALEXANDRU CEL BUN, Botosani, Romania 

Founded in 1974, GRUPUL SCOLAR "ALEXANDRU CEL BUN operates with 53 classes. Among these classes, 20 are for general education (philology, computer and natural sciences), 7 classes for vocational education and 8 for professional education (technician in textile and clothing design)  Altogether, 1371 students are trained in our school, and there are about 100 teachers. Among the extracurricular activities, the students enjoy getting involved in educational projects. "Let's Do It, Romania!" is one of these actions carried out at national level. 300 students of our school participated in this program organised by the Environmental Care Agency in 2010.  For instance, they cleaned up some polluted sites. From October onwards, we have been organising the sorting of rubbish at our school.