In October 2025, Abbey School in Rotherham hosted an inspiring EcoTeachMeet, bringing together teachers, support staff and partners to explore how sustainability can be woven through everyday school life. The event offered a brilliant opportunity to see what Abbey has been doing to champion environmental learning, as well as to share ideas that other schools can adapt to their own contexts.
The afternoon included with a warm welcome from staff and a tour of the school’s growing range of eco-focused equipment and spaces. Staff were able to see how classrooms, outdoor areas and play spaces are being used to support pupils’ learning about biodiversity, food and wellbeing. From simple tools and sensory resources to more innovative outdoor installations developed with partners such as Lightmain
Short, punchy TeachMeet-style presentations showcased how this equipment is being used in real lessons—linking sustainability to science, as well as to communication and life skills. Colleagues shared honest reflections on what has worked, what needed tweaking and how pupils have responded, particularly those with more complex needs. The informal format created plenty of space for questions, peer support and spontaneous problem-solving.
Crucially, the EcoTeachMeet helped to strengthen a network of educators across South Yorkshire who are keen to move from good intentions to practical climate action in schools. Participants left with concrete ideas they could try the very next week, as well as new contacts to collaborate with in the future.
Special thanks go to Jill and Holly from Abbey School for hosting such a warm and well-organised event, and to Avika from Lightmain for sharing her expertise on creating sustainable, engaging play and learning environments. Their combined enthusiasm and leadership made the EcoTeachMeet a real catalyst for ongoing change.
You can find out more about Playponics on the slides below.
Sheffield Family Hubs’ Infant Feeding Team offers free, curriculum-linked lessons for both primary and secondary schools.
Primary (Year 5 Science – The Science of Mammal Milk) This interactive session supports the Animals, including humans and Living things and their habitats topics. Pupils explore what makes a mammal, how milk varies between species to meet their young’s needs, and the unique living properties of human breastmilk. Teachers report strong curriculum links and high pupil engagement.
Secondary (Citizenship & Science – The Green Parenting Project and KS3 Science lessons) Secondary students can take part in The Green Parenting Project, a five-session programme on sustainability, consumer choices, and environmentally friendly parenting. Additionally, tailored science lessons cover the microbiome and the biology of breastfeeding, linking directly to KS3 learning objectives.
South Yorkshire Children’s University helps children and young people build essential life skills through learning activities outside of the classroom. For over a decade, Children’s University has been supporting thousands of pupils across Sheffield – and more recently in Rotherham, Doncaster, and Barnsley to grow their confidence, motivation and self-esteem. Research shows that children who take part in Children’s University activities not only enjoy richer experiences, but also achieve higher results in school, including SATs and GCSEs.
Wildflower greetings card activity – provided by participating school
Project in a Box
One of South Yorkshire Children’s University’s most successful initiatives is Project in a Box – a ready-made resource kit that enables schools to run engaging after-school clubs for groups of 12 or more pupils. Staff are supported through training sessions before delivering six to eight weeks of activities, all leading to a celebratory event where pupils showcase their learning and take part in themed challenges.
Celebration event at Sheffield Hallam University – Institute of Education
Think Climate!
For the 2024/25 academic year, Sheffield Hallam University partnered with Children’s University to launch the Think Climate! edition of Project in a Box. Developed by academic staff at the Sheffield Institute of Education (SIOE), the programme introduces pupils to climate change and biodiversity through a positive, research-informed approach. The focus is on increasing young people’s sense of agency and reducing eco-anxiety by highlighting local solutions and actions they can take.
Teacher CPD on climate education and using the box
The project offers:
8 themed sessions designed around climate change and sustainability.
Teacher training and CPD to support confident delivery.
Creative resources and incentives including craft activities and children’s books linked to environmental themes.
Celebration events where schools and pupils come together to share achievements.
Students participating in the celebration event day at Sheffield Hallam University
Impact and Reach
Launched in October 2024, Think Climate! has engaged nearly 50 schools across South Yorkshire – the highest number to date. Early evidence shows a positive impact on both teacher and pupil knowledge, skills, and motivation to respond to the climate and biodiversity crisis. A more formal evaluation is being undertaken and will be published soon (October 2025).
The project culminated in a celebration event taking place at the Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam in July 2025. Over 100 children and staff attended from nearly 15 schools across South Yorkshire.
This collaborative project was delivered by Sheffield Hallam University’s Institute of Education, the Civic Partnership team, and Sheffield Children’s University, with support from our funding partners.
Bath bomb making – image provided by participating school
Funding Partners
Sheffield Hallam University – Hallam Fund
Sheffield Hallam University
University of Sheffield
Research Team
Lee Jowett – Climate Change and Sustainability Research Fellow
In 2025, the Royal Society is commemorating the 80th anniversary of the election of the first female Fellows, Kathleen Lonsdale and Marjory Stephenson, and celebrating the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). As part of this celebration, we are looking to develop resources for teachers to use in the classroom to help support and inspire more women and girls to get involved in science in the future. We are seeking your guidance to help make these resources as relevant as possible and are inviting you to participate in a discussion group about resources highlighting Women in STEM.
We would be grateful if you could sign up to one of our discussion sessions below to share your thoughts on what resources would be most useful to you.
Each session is scheduled for a maximum of one hour and will be conducted via Zoom.
The session leader will have some guiding questions, but we are most interested in hearing your perspectives – what resources you currently use to support learning about Women in STEM, and what resources would be valuable to you in the future.
Sessions are divided into Primary and Secondary phases; however, please feel free to attend whichever session is most convenient for you.
As a thank you for taking part, we will send you a copy for your school of the Young People’s Book Prize 2024 winning book Can You Get Rainbows in Space by Dr Sheila Kanani and the 2018 Young People’s Book Prize shortlisted book Women in Science by Rachel Ignotosky.
You may also be interested in our videos on the first female Fellows of the Royal Society to share with your students.
Thank you in advance for your time, we really appreciate your help. If you have any questions, please contact the Schools Engagement Team at education@royalsociety.org
Standing in the playground at my daughter’s school in summer, my eyes are always drawn upwards. Few other people seem to notice the fast and stealthy flight of the prehistoric birds overhead. They are Swifts and they have nested in the eaves of the 19th Century school for as long as anyone can remember. There are about six nesting pairs at the school these days and they cause no problems at all, going unnoticed most of the time, aside from their occasional aerial acrobatic displays. Children participating in the school’s Eco Club are encouraged to look up and appreciate the world’s fastest bird in level flight, that make their homes in their school.
Swifts are incredible birds – they migrate from central Africa every spring to breed in the cooler climes of Northern Europe. They can travel at 60mph and cover 500 miles a day on their migration. Swifts eat, sleep and breed while flying. They never stop for a perch or a rest- they simply rest half of their brain, while the other half keeps them moving. Swifts are truly prehistoric, having survived the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs. They navigate their way to the exact same spot every year to breed and do so every year of their adult lives. They are faithful to their nesting sites and if they are unable to access them, they will die trying to gain access. Swifts are just one variety of ‘cavity nesting species’, a group that also includes House Sparrows, Starlings and various species of Bat. House Martins and Swallows may also be considered cavity nesters, but they tend to build nest cups out of mud attached to the outside of a building, rather than tucking themselves on the inside.
Starling leaving a nest brick. Copyright Hugh Hastings. Accessed via Sheffield Swift Network.
All of these species are in steep and rapid decline (all with Red Listed status, meaning they are at risk of extinction). The threats facing cavity nesting species are myriad, but chief amongst them is loss of nesting sites. For millennia, cavity nesters have made their nests in our homes, tucking into tiny nooks and crannies under the roofline. But, we are blocking up these small gaps more than ever, often in pursuit of greater energy efficiency in our buildings. Many people making improvements to buildings, whether it’s installing a new roof, boosting insulation or just fitting new fascia boards or guttering, will have no idea that they are contributing to the decline of wildlife.
Government has recently launched a long overdue programme to boost the energy efficiency of public buildings, including schools. This investment is to be welcomed and will make schools more thermally comfortable and reduce running costs. But, there is a hidden risk in rolling out schemes like this. The preponderance of older school buildings in the UK, with their abundant imperfections in the brick and stonework, appeal hugely to cavity nesting species. Forging ahead with works without an ecological survey risks harming already vulnerable species and breaking the law. Disturbing or blocking access to an active nest site is illegal in the UK, whether you realise you are doing it or not. Erecting scaffolding that blocks access to the eaves, also counts as blocking access.
Cavity nesting species make important contributions to healthy eco-systems and will do no harm to a building. Indeed, hosting cavity nesting species in your school provides the best possible opportunity for children to learn about and be close some of our most astonishing and vulnerable wildlife.
If you’re (very wisely) considering taking advantage of subsidies to improve energy efficiency in your school, then take the opportunity to learn about the wildlife that might be very quietly securing its future within your buildings first. This is more likely in older school buildings, but can occur in buildings of almost any age, where there are small gaps in the brick or stonework or under roof tiles. Ensuring that any work (whether investigatory or more substantial) takes place outside of the nesting season (which runs from late April until September), will avoid any harm to wildlife.
Four Swift bricks installed in a gable end. Copyright Merv Page. Accessed via Sheffield Swift Network.
Whether you have wildlife nesting or roosting in your building or not, consider making provision for it while you’re doing work by installing as many universal nest bricks as you can- they can accommodate most types of cavity nesting birds and bats and never need any maintenance. They cost as little as £30 each plus installation costs and can be transformational for cavity nesters. Other solutions also exist if nest bricks aren’t possible, including nest boxes that affix to the outside of a building or integral nest boxes that sit inside soffits. For more information on solutions that can benefit all cavity nesting species, visit Sheffield Swift Network’s (SSN) website: www.sheffieldswiftnetwork.org
Thank you to Steph and Mandy from Lydgate Junior School for hosting and giving us a tour of the amazing school grounds. Below are the presentations and projects/activities mentioned:
Pupils from 25 schools throughout South Yorkshire took part in this year’s Schools Climate Education South Yorkshire Conference at New York Stadium, Rotherham last Thursday.
The conference was opened by Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham Central, who sent a video message to open the conference. She spoke about how unfair it was that those who have made the smallest contribution to climate change are suffering the most. Countries in the global south are having to deal with floods, droughts and crop failures when it is emissions from the rich countries that have caused this. Some small island states are in imminent danger due to rising sea levels and two could be submerged before the end of the century. Rotherham has seen flooding in Whiston and Treeton, so it’s coming to us too. She said the most simple thing you can do to combat climate change is write to your MP.
Youth drama group Drama Kids performed a powerful extract from a script they had devised themselves called ‘Trash Planet’, calling for us all, including governments, to rise to the challenge of climate solutions.
Carolyn Leary explained some alarming facts about temperatures. In 2015 the Paris Agreement highlighted the importance of not exceeding a 1.5C increase in average world temperatures, but it is now clear we will overshoot this. The average global temperature in the Ice Age was 10C and the average planetary temperature now is 15C, so 1.5 makes a massive difference. Think of it like your body temperature-which is usually 37C. If you have a temperature of 38.5 you are very ill. Our planet is currently sick.
The Zines workshop got children making small magazines about nature, using old magazines to cut and paste. It was run by the National Education Nature Park who provide free programmes for schools to empower children and young people to make a positive difference to both their own and nature’s future.
The Energy Heroes workshop looked at the maths of our energy mix. Did you know that 29.4% of our electricity now comes from wind power, bigger than gas at 25.9%? A typical annual bill for a primary school’s energy is now £40,000. Energy Heroes worked out that if the staff and pupils work together to turn off appliances when not needed and avoid overheating classrooms, bills can be cut by 10%, saving a school £4000 a year.
The children were encouraged to compose a rap. Led by professional musicians each small group came up with a verse and it was all put together to make a song. The group I sat with came up with
Gas and coal are so mean So is Biomass it seems Make more wind and use the sun Make our world a better one!
It was wonderful to see students’ ideas being turned into a finished product in such a short time. They performed it to everybody at the end of the day, using bin lids to add to the percussion.
Hope for the Future led this workshop to encourage the youngsters to engage with their MP’s. Sheffield Central MP Abtisam Mohammed was used as a case study and students worked out what common interests they had with her. They worked on questions to ask her and a video was made of students asking each question which will be sent to Abtisam Mohammed who has promised to make a video with her replies.
Lunchtime gave the students time to interact with the many stalls from different environmental groups to pick up ideas to take back to their schools.
Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust ran a Greenspace Role Play workshop about planning an open space. They used Eldon Road Recreation Ground in Rotherham as a case study. Each group was given a budget of £70,000 and had to choose how to spend it, on items such as tree planting, wildflower meadows, ponds, bird and bat boxes, habitat improvements for otters, litter picks, paths, bins, fences, play equipment and community events. Students annotated a map of the park and then had to justify how they had spent their money to other participants. Students learnt how it was important to balance the needs of different people and nature so that the space worked for everyone.
Towards the end of the day, each school created an Action Plan to take back to their school leaders to make positive changes to their school for climate and nature. Each student chose one priority they thought the school should concentrate on. These included school meals, school ethos, curriculum, food growing, heating and insulation, gender equality, buying less and buying eco products, active travel and engaging the community. Students gathered around a mentor for each idea and discussed what their school might do and what help they might need to achieve it. Then students returned to school groups to debate and finalise their plan.
The Art Competition was won with a collaborative effort from Astrea Academy and Freya won the poetry competition. The event ended with the presentation of a Climate Hope banner created during the course of the day by community sewing group, Common Thread.
Common Thread, a community project that organises social exchanges of clothing, repair workshops, and playful up-cycling activities, created a banner based on patches schools brought with them on the theme of climate hope. They had this to say about the SCESY Conference:
‘What a FANTASTIC and inspirational day working on this community art banner and discussing the slow fashion movement with so many brilliant young people at the Schools Climate Education South Yorkshire Schools Conference!’
Students I spoke to had enjoyed the day and were enthusiastic to go back to their schools and help make some changes. Amina from Rescope Primary thought adults should spend more time enjoying nature and had made a Zine about this. Jane and Jessica wanted more wildflowers to encourage butterflies and bees and wanted their MP to make more greenspaces in the community.
Sheffield Hallam University has partnered with Global Action Plan to deliver the ‘Good Life Schools’, a free programme for secondary schools and colleges, that brings communities together to create ways of living and learning together that are good for us, and good for the planet.
The programme has been running in 3 Sheffield secondaries this academic year (Meadowhead School, King Egberts School and High Storrs School), and have an additional 7 secondary school places for the 2025-26 academic year, available on a first come first served basis.
Join our supported Good Life Schools programme and receive:
CPD, launch assembly and workshop delivery from the local officer
Step-by-step guidance and a pack of teaching resources and activities to support your school run the programmeup to an entire academic year.
Ongoing support from your Community Engagement Lead.
Funding of up to £2,000 to help you deliver the project
How it works
Your school will be supported by an experienced Community Engagement Lead, who will work alongside a Lead Teacher in your school to deliver the programme as an extra-curricular opportunity during a term and time of your choice.
Form a Good Life Group, explore the Good Life vs. the Goods Life
Create a Good Life project, gather support for your projects
Put your Good Life projects into action, celebrate and share your story
Please see below for more information or visit Good Life Schools. There is a short online information session taking place on Wednesday 30 April at 3.30-4.00pm featuring colleagues from GAP, SHU and at least one school running the programme this year. To sign up please use this link.
In the meantime if you have any question please email Lee Jowett (Sheffield Hallam University) or Sian Buckley (Global Action Plan).
