Elliot Primary is working to become the Island's first certified 'green' school.

The school is working with environmental non-profit groups Greenrock and GreenBean to educate its students about the environment and earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

"This is monumental," said GreenBean founder Denaye Hinds. "If we keep on track, we hope to get certification in the next 18 to 24 months. If it comes sooner, it would be great, but certification is a big deal."

The LEED certification system was set up by the US Green Building Council, and has become an international standard.

To be certified, Ms Hinds said the school hopes to reduce its water and power consumption, provide more green spaces, use more recycled materials, and reduce greenhouse gasses.

"Air quality is especially important when you keep in mind what the children could be breathing in," she said.

Ms Hinds said the planting of a guava tree in the school's courtyard as part of a graduation ceremony was the first formal step towards their goal. "It signifies the commitment of the class and the school to environmental stewardship as well as the graduation."

The students themselves will also be a part of the school's green focus, becoming involved in its Growing up Green scheme, which will feature workshops and projects to encourage good environmental behaviour.

"In the fall term, the focus is going to be on waste management, or as we're calling it waste not, want not," said Ms Hinds. "We'll be looking at waste reduction, recycling and composting.

"In the Spring, we'll look at water and energy conservation. We also want to have a lifestyle section, where we'll talk about healthy eating and healthy living, promoting exercise and using public transportation."

She said the guava tree itself would play a part in the students' environmental education. "We already have strawberries and some tomato plants. They all are going to play a part in teaching the children about healthy eating and organic farming."

In the future, Ms Hinds hopes the Growing up Green initiative will spread outside the school to the community as a whole. "This is just our starting off point. We want to set up a walking school bus, where parents can drop their kids off at a certain area and then everyone walks in to school together. We want to get the entire Devonshire community involved."

School administrator Cathy Bassett said the school had been working towards becoming more environmentally friendly, but the LEED certification efforts were encouraging them to do more.

"We've been working to do more in that area of recycling, and we're going to be doing composting starting in September," she said.

"The reaction from the students has been absolutely wonderful. They're very keen. The best thing is that they bring what they learn home with them and they tell their parents, so it's not just the school that's being affected, but the whole community."

• For more information about the Growing Up Green, visit www.greenrock.org or www.greenbeaninc.org.