Sustainable Living Sustainable Lifestyles - 12 years on
DID YOU KNOW - The Millennium Eco Centre form part of the award winning St. Christopher's Special School; this year alone winning Sustainable School of the year at the TES Awards, an Environment/Education category winner for the Welsh Assembly Government and the MPA. The School and it's Eco Centre are one of only a handful of Schools to have permanent Eco School status and have received 'outstanding' feedback in their last Estyn Inspection.
The Eco Centre aim to be a Centre of excellent in issues around sutainability and as such run accredited courses for learners.
Our 14-19 curriculum helps young people (who are school phobic) to gain accredtations like CoPE (Certificate of Personal Effectiveness), BTec, Agored and GCSE qualifications. We've made the Centre believe the Tree Top classroom and learners bus encourages individuality & creativity whilst helping to develop essential skills like working with others, numeracy, literacy & ICT.
Our 19+ Programme (aimed at learners with moderate learning diffeculties who are working towards independence) covers a variety of subjects like, Health Living, Community Action, Shopping & Waste Management, Working towards goals. The 48 week (Price including lunch) programme has the learners attending the sessions once a week, helping them build essential skills and encourage independant living.
Our Sensory Learner groups (people with profound disabilities or leanring challenges). These workshops cover topics like Healthy Living, Creative Arts, Community Action, Gardening, Music & relaxation. With the adult changing facilities and sensory room, learners can access these sessions minimum of one day a week on a 48 week programme (Price includes a lunch).
Whilst the Centre expands and grows as a community resource for ‘Education for Sustainable Development’; it still remains true to its initial roots and functions as a department of St. Christopher's School in Wrexham. The School holds the charity status and the Eco Centre is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government through the Aggregates Levy Sustainable fund for Wales,
Adult learnerProvision- During 2000, the LEA approached Maxine Pittaway (Head Teacher – St. Christopher’s School) and the Eco Centre to take over the facilitation and running of a scheme that provided educational placements for adults with disabilities.
Since those early days the project has grown from strength to strength, now providing education and trainging to a wide variety of people and backgrounds.
Working with Young unemployed
The Eco Centre have been working with A4E staff and the Job Centre to provide work based learning opportunities for unemployed adults between the ages of 19-25.
Teams of budding conservationists have been helping with the daily management of the community woodland here on Borras Quarry. This project helps them gain confidence working in a team, new tranferable skills and most importantly good work ethics for their future employment.
 Millennium Eco Centre - sits at the entrance to a working sand and gravel quarry owned and operated by Tarmac Quarry Products Ltd.
The project was established in 1998 as an environmental education facility working with special needs students from St. Christopher’s School.
Brief History of the Millennium Eco Centre Project — was set up with 10,000 pounds of Millennium Funding; four senior pupils from St. Christopher’s School ‘Environmental Task Force’ began searching for a suitable site for such a venture. Through already established business links with Tarmac Quarry Products Ltd. a disused building at Borras quarry was offered for the group to use. The centre was opened by the Mayor of Wrexham in September of that year.
The Centre was not open to the general public until 2000; during the ‘Minerals’ open event in the summer of that year, over 10,000 visitors passed through that event, learning about aggregate extraction and sustainable living/ sustainable lifestyles.
Nowadays the Millennium Eco Centre regularly receives over 12,000 visitors per year; these visitors, volunteers, students and social service clients take part in a variety of activities and workshops or education programmes based looking at sustainable living and sustainable lifestyles. | 
