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).
Elena Clark – Another Way – An introduction to Another Way and about our schools work with Power of 10 (15 mins) – Slides
Lauren Mysiw & Kayla Thompson – Sheffield Family Hubs/Breastfeeding in Sheffield – Promotion of the Infant Feeding team educational offer and signing up to the Breastfeeding in Sheffield ‘Breastfeeding Friendly Award’ for public spaces and employers (15 mins) – Slides
Sian Buckley – Global Action Plan – information and promotion about the Good Life Schools programme currently being delivered and recruiting for 2025/26 in Sheffield (15 mins) – Slides
John Bray- Discovery Outdoors– Learning outdoors and connecting with nature and green spaces in Sheffield (15 mins) – Slides
Sasha Beswick- Barnsley College – 2030 SDG game and other activities/opportunity (5 mins) (no slides)
Michala Sullivan – National Energy Agency – fully funded workshops for KS3 – KS5 (5 mins) –Slides
If you would like a link to the TeachMeet, please complete this short eForm. A calendar invite will be sent nearer the time, so please block out in your calendar.
For researchers: work with a primary school in South Yorkshire to investigate an age-appropriate theme of climate change and sustainability
For information for schools, please see the schools’ page.
Audience: Researchers and Lecturers (including PhD students) in Sheffield Hallam University and University of Sheffield who have an interest in climate change and sustainability
Research topics: Air quality, energy generation, energy efficiency, flood management and biodiversity (you do not need to be an expert in any of these topics to participate)
Programme outline
February-March 2025
CPD researcher training – 1-hour online training and 2-hour virtual workshop (delivered by the Climate Ambassadors programme)
CPD with your allocated teacher – 1 day face to face training and planning at Sheffield Hallam University
April-July 2025 (dates to be agreed between pair)
3 in school activities with your teacher partner/students (up to 2 hours)
2 virtual activities with your teacher partner/students (up to an hour)
Ongoing support, as required from a mentor at SHU
Autumn 2025
Information session to apply for further funding
Researcher commitments
Researcher to attend online and face to face training sessions
Participate in 5 activities with their teacher partner
Meet with a mentor mid-programme
Engage with surveys and evaluation of the programme
Researchers will be asked to select preferred training dates and a preferred research topic on signing up.
Researchers will be able to claim up £75 for travel expenses, however we are unable to fund academic time. You will need to sign up to become a Climate Ambassador and complete a DBS check.
Further funding is available to apply for a Partnership Grant from the Royal Society once you have completed this programme.
For schools: Work with your students and a researcher from Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) or the University of Sheffield to investigate an age-appropriate theme of climate change and sustainability
Audience: Primary school teachers (including infant and junior schools) in South Yorkshire
Research topics: Air quality, energy generation, energy efficiency, flood management and biodiversity
Programme outline
February-March 2025
April-July 2025 (dates to be agreed between pair)
3 in school activities with your researcher and students (up to 2 hours)
2 virtual activities with your researcher and students (up to an hour)
Ongoing support, as required from a mentor at SHU
CPD teacher training – 2-hour virtual twilight workshop
CPD with your allocated researcher – 1 day face to face training and planning at Sheffield Hallam University
Autumn 2025
Information session to apply for further funding
School commitments
A member of staff to attend twilight and training session
Participate in 5 activities with their class and researcher
Meet with a mentor mid-programme
Engage with surveys and evaluation of the programme
School staff will be asked to select preferred training dates and research topic. We will endeavour to match you with a researcher interested in the same research topic.
Schools will receive £300 to cover supply costs as well as project equipment loan. Researchers will be trained on how to work with schools (via the Climate Ambassadors) and will hold a valid DBS.
Further funding is available to apply for a Partnership Grant from the Royal Society once you have completed this programme.
By Lee Jowett Climate Change and Sustainability Research Fellow Sheffield Institute of Education
In July, the new Labour government announced a review of the national curriculum. Two of its stated aims are to ‘ensure children and young people leave compulsory education ready for life and ready for work’, and to ‘reflect the issues … of our society.’
Today is the last day for submitting evidence which I am currently in the process of doing myself, my usual tact of leaving things to the last minute!
If the review is to succeed in these aims, it cannot ignore climate change — arguably the defining issue of our age, and certainly key to many jobs of the future as the UK moves towards net zero.
Over the last year, I have been interviewing senior leaders and teachers in primary schools, secondary schools, further education colleges and local authorities to find out how climate change is currently taught. I have discovered a lot of great work, instigated by passionate staff members.
But in all of my conversations, one thing was clear — for climate change to be given the time and attention it requires, it must be embedded in the curriculum.
The current situation — an inconsistent picture
The Department for Education brought out a climate change strategy in 2021, but crucially it wasn’t mandatory. This has meant that — with so many competing priorities and all the demands of the mandatory elements of the curriculum — many schools are only dimly aware of it.
Of course, schools and their staff recognise climate change as one of the most important challenges facing our species, and therefore they want to teach it to our children. But this is happening almost despite government policy, rather than because of it.
One headteacher told me, ‘The whole curriculum needs a massive overhaul, and schools shouldn’t be so outcome-driven. Climate change is as important as reading and maths. There’s no point in being able to read, write or do the times tables if we’re all living off rubbish heaps.’
In all of my conversations with educators, nearly every one of them has singled out a lack of time and space in the curriculum as a key barrier to teaching climate change.
It means current efforts at climate education are piecemeal and inconsistent, largely driven by the heroic efforts of individual members of staff rather than an overarching strategy. There are great initiatives happening, but whether your child will get to experience them currently depends entirely on where they go to school.
Interestingly, in the further education colleges I spoke to, sustainability was much more embedded in the curriculum. This is because these institutions tend to collaborate with employers, who need college leavers with these skills.
But the college staff I spoke to said that students were coming to them with a lack of awareness, because it’s not taught to the same level in primary and secondary schools.
Learning from success stories
The good news is that in all of the schools I spoke to, there was excellent work happening around sustainability and climate education.
From the Tiny Forests and Edible Playgrounds projects which help schools make the most of their outdoor space, to the Eco–Schools scheme for schools, children and young people across the country are taking part in practical, solution-focused climate programmes.
Alongside these national schemes, I found that local authorities can make a huge difference. Leicester City Council are the shining example. Their Sustainable Schools team provides free support to all Leicester schools, focusing on carbon reduction and increasing biodiversity on school grounds.
They also run a huge number of projects that schools can take part in, including Less Litter for Leicester, the Mealbarrow food-growing competition, and Sustainable Drainage Systems for Schools. As a result of all this work, Leicester has the highest number of Eco-Schools Green Flag Awards of any unitary authority in England.
So what can we learn from the best examples of schools teaching climate change and sustainability well? From my conversations, two things stand out as crucial to these success stories.
The first must-have is a passionate sustainability lead with the remit to oversee climate education across the whole school. Sometimes this is a teacher, sometimes a group of teachers, and occasionally it’s part of a wider leadership role. One eco-lead told me, ‘You need to have someone who’s willing to really champion it, to make it easier for the rest of the staff to engage in the projects.’
The second is senior leadership who recognise the importance of climate education and give it the time and institutional backing needed. Without this, climate change risks being lost among other priorities.
One college leader told me, ‘It is successful at our college because everybody from the board down has bought into it. When I’m speaking to colleagues from other settings, sometimes they haven’t got that whole organisational buy-in. They’re always battling against it because although it’s a good idea, it’s seen as an add-on.’
What needs to be done
The current climate change strategy needs to be strengthened. It talks a lot about buildings and procurement, but not so much about teaching and learning. The curriculum and assessment review is an opportunity to change this, and provide the political will to truly embed climate education in our schools.
Again and again in my interviews, teachers said they didn’t have time to focus on climate. This could be resolved by slimming down the overall curriculum. Teachers also need time to be trained in climate education and sustainability, so they have the confidence to deliver it.
Finally, climate education must be made a mandatory part of the curriculum. Having a sustainability lead in each school would mean it is embedded in all decision-making, in a similar way to safeguarding. This is already happening in the best examples I spoke to, but it needs to be rolled out nationally. Having attended one of the live events in Doncaster yesterday, I was encouraged to hear colleagues asking for climate change and sustainability to be part of the national curriculum. Becky Francis herself reflected on climate change and sustainability being a theme across many of the events.
Climate change should become a golden thread that runs throughout the curriculum. It’s what the teachers I have spoken to want. And it’s what our children and young people deserve.
Lee Jowett is a Climate Change and Sustainability Research Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University. Previously he worked for a local authority and has been a secondary school science teacher. He can be contacted on l.jowett@shu.ac.uk
Bridget Bircumshaw is a teaching and quality lead at Chesterfield College. We spoke to her about how they are embedding green skills into the curriculum at every level.
Can you give some background on your college?
We have about 6,000 students, mainly 16 to 18 year olds, plus 1,800 apprentices, 300 higher education students, 300 for adult provision and 560 members of staff.
What’s your role and what responsibilities do you have for climate change and sustainability?
I am a teaching and learning quality lead across the whole college, looking at quality improvement and assurance. I am also a teacher trainer. It’s my role to really drive green skills. It was something we wanted to bring in for development but it didn’t initially fit under my job description. It does now.
When Covid hit we had to get online really quickly, and we realised that as a sustainable educational system, digital enterprise was something that we needed to look at. So that was almost the seed that started where we were going to go.
Why is sustainability important to you and your college?
We don’t call it sustainability, we call it green skills. Further education is all about skills. Sustainability tends to be thought of as about recycling and litter, and it can prevent people thinking about the wider picture. So we’ve rebranded it as green skills, and that’s what goes into our curriculum. It’s what we talk to employers about when we work with them on the curriculum and how our students develop their wider skills.
Have you had any training around sustainability or climate education?
What activities have you undertaken at your college?
The first thing we did was set up a panel including people from across the college, from the CEO down. We meet regularly to work out how we’re going to follow the DfE road map.
Then we turned one of our regular inset days into a sustainability day where staff and students all came in and learned from each other. We based it on the UNESCO seventeen global goals and we linked each of the goals to an area. By the end of the day everyone had an awareness of what climate justice is about. The following year we focused on wellbeing and life skills through the green skills lens. Our third year will concentrate on personal development and volunteering to support self and communities.
In our curriculum, we have added green skills as one of the key pieces of the jigsaw. Childcare students learn about forest schools, and as part of that they made a hedgehog-friendly campus. When they did their placements, they took that learning to their nurseries or education centres. Our plumbing students did grey water harvesting, building a tank which collected rainwater that can be used to flush toilets.
Green skills are no longer something that stands outside the curriculum, it’s embedded throughout our curriculum. And it trickles down throughout the college. In hairdressing and beauty, we look at the products that we use. In catering, they only buy from a 20-mile radius now, cutting down on transport costs.
What barriers have you faced?
For staff, it’s time. ‘How am I going to do this? I haven’t got the skills to do that. I’m a brickie. I’m a hairdresser.’ We had to simplify it, strip it right back. It’s awareness you need, you don’t need a master’s degree in it.
Our tutors are vocational specialists. Instead of observing and grading them, we’re giving them back their professionalism — saying, ‘You are the professional in this area, so show us what you want to do in a practical way. How will this support our learners?’
Working with employers and having their input into developing our curricula is highly important. Green skills are needed in so many different sectors. Students want to hear it from the horse’s mouth before you teach it to them.
Do you think what you’ve done could be replicated in other FE institutions?
It is successful at our college because everybody from the board down has bought into it. It is a strategic strand. When attending events with other FE institutions, I notice that there are often hubs of people doing things but they haven’t got that whole organisational buy-in. So they’re always battling against it because although it’s a good idea, it’s seen as an add-on.
In the colleges where it is working, they all have very high-up buy-in. It’s brought up all the time at board meetings. It’s more and more important. From next year, we’ll need to show data showing that we are decarbonising the curriculum and the impact this has on teaching and learning assessment for our learners’ skills development and progression.
At our college, we want green skills to be the social purpose for our learners. We want them to have that added value to what they do in life, so they’re able to support themselves and give something back to their communities. We want our students to embrace change through green skills and personal development, not as a burden but as an opportunity to grow and innovate, honing their skills to match jobs out there that are just waiting to be invented.
Rob Chambers is the national lead for geography and the trust sustainability lead at Astrea Academy Trust, which comprises 26 schools. We spoke to him about working across a multi-academy trust to embed sustainability.
What is your role?
I am part of Astrea Academy Trust’s Central Education team, and my role is national geography lead, leading on geography education across the trust’s secondary academies. In addition, I have a voluntary role as the trust’s sustainability lead, leading on and coordinating our sustainability work across all of our primaries and secondaries alongside our chief operating officer (COO) Jonathan Timmis, working with eco-leads and senior leadership eco-links in our academies.
How many schools are in your academy trust?
We have 26 schools in total spread throughout South Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire. 17 are primary schools (all of which are in South Yorkshire), and the rest are secondary (Cambridgeshire, Barnsley, Doncaster and Sheffield).
Why is sustainability important to you and your trust?
Astrea Academy Trust fully recognises the importance of integrating sustainability within all aspects of the work that we do. Our CEO and COO are committed to supporting this, which has been crucial for driving forward our successes so far in embedding sustainability across both our academies and central team. The trust’s inaugural work on sustainability was a sustainable estates strategy launched back in 2022 by Jonathan Timmis (our COO), this was a crucial starting point which set the foundation for the work that we have gone on to do. Not only did it acknowledge the importance of investing in infrastructure to reduce costs and carbon footprint, but also the importance of considering all aspects of activities in our academies through an environmental lens, including the initial push for our Go Green Campaign.
To take this forward we used the Department for Education’s Climate Change policy as a framework on which to base our initial thoughts and actions and to plan ahead. On the basis of this we later created our Climate Action Plan, which sets out our goals and actions for tackling climate change and promoting sustainability.
Personally, I’ve always been passionate about global change and the environment, thanks to my geographical background. This personal interest has driven my dedication to embedding sustainability within education, and it is a privilege to be able to lead on driving forward our vision for sustainability through coordinating our GoGreen strategy.
We believe it’s crucial to teach our students about global change and sustainability. We want them to know how they can be part of the solution and help build a sustainable future. We also want to ensure that they have the opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge required for the growing green jobs sector.
It’s important for our students to understand how their decisions affect both local communities and the wider world and understanding social and environmental justice issues related to climate change and sustainability is essential to help them develop as global citizens who can make informed decisions.
In short, by fostering a culture of sustainability across our trust, we’re preparing our students to be informed, proactive members of society who can make a positive impact on the world whilst actively advocating for and demonstrating the principles and practices that we teach our students to ensure that they are a lived reality.
Have you had any training around sustainability or climate education?
In 2019 I undertook an online training course to become a UN Climate Change Accredited Teacher, which was run by UN CC:e-Learn in conjunction with eduCCate Global.
I have also taught climate change as part of the AQA GCSE and I have taught a climate change module as part of the OCR A Level specification which launched in 2016. I have attended numerous sustainability webinars online, including through Let’s Go Zero as well as other organisations, and attended conferences such as the ASCL Conference for a Sustainable Future.
I also network widely via X (formerly known as Twitter) with other sustainability leads and those involved in climate change and sustainability education.
What activities have you undertaken?
The first step in our sustainability plan was to ask each school to nominate an eco-lead. It was crucial that this individual was genuinely interested and motivated to take on the role, as they really need to be the driving force within their school. Additionally, we requested that schools nominate a senior leadership team (SLT) eco-link to ensure there was representation at that level, which is vital for driving initiatives forward.
Each eco-lead was then tasked with setting up an eco-committee, comprising students from as many year groups as possible. This inclusivity ensures a broad representation and engagement across the school community.
As the sustainability lead, I organise meetings of eco-leads once a term and provide termly bulletins. These bulletins showcase and share good practices happening within our schools, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.
Our regional operations managers play a key role by regularly touching base with the eco-leads in schools. They help promote the GoGreen strategy, working closely with me and the COO to ensure alignment and support.
When we launched the GoGreen strategy in October 2022, we asked all our academies to focus on energy, alongside any other initiatives they wished to pursue. To support this, we signed up all our schools centrally to the Let’s Go Zero campaign. We also support three trust-wide events annually: Switch Off Fortnight in November, the Sustrans Walk and Wheel in the spring term, and World Environment Day in June.
For World Environment Day in June 2023, which focused on plastic pollution, we encouraged schools to raise awareness through social media. Two of our eco-committees visited a local waste recycling plant and participated in a workshop on plastics recycling with the charity Recoup.
Beyond these trust-wide initiatives, schools undertake their own activities, such as creating school gardens, organising community litter picks, and building bug hotels. These activities focus on various topics, including biodiversity, recycling, and litter. Some of our primary schools’ eco-committees have even collaborated to hold their own mini-COP-26 events, and several South Yorkshire schools have participated in the South Yorkshire Schools Climate Conference.
In July 2023, after running the GoGreen strategy for a year, we evaluated our progress. Based on the successes we observed, we decided to adopt a more strategic approach moving forward. We recognized the importance of integrating our efforts in a holistic manner, further strengthening the links between the central team and our academies regarding sustainability. Consequently, we decided to develop our first Climate Action Plan. Our goal is to evaluate our work at the end of each academic year to inform the development of a strategic plan for sustainability for the following year.
Tell us about the climate action plan.
Our Climate Action Plan (CAP) embodies our trust’s philosophy and approach to sustainability, with objectives set across various timescales and sustainability themes at the trust level. When we began drafting our CAP, there was limited guidance on the format, so we decided to proceed with our vision of what it should be. The key was to create a holistic plan that encompassed the entire trust, linking the efforts of our academies and the central team.
We started with a comprehensive meeting that included me as the trust sustainability lead, Jonathan Timmis as COO, and all major stakeholders from the operations side, such as the chief financial officer, regional operations managers, head of IT, head of estates, and head of catering. As a member of the Central Education team, I was able to represent the curriculum perspective.
During this meeting, we outlined what each area was already doing and had achieved regarding sustainability. We then set clear objectives under the following headings: energy, waste, water, IT, operations, healthy living, school grounds, biodiversity, climate literacy, green careers, and information campaigns. These objectives form the foundation of our CAP.
We structured our CAP by starting with the context and our ambition as a trust. We then established our sustainability leadership structure, which includes leadership at both the trust and academy levels. Our work aligns with the four strategic aims of the Department for Education’s sustainability and climate education strategy and is underpinned by the ten sustainability themes outlined in the Eco-Schools framework. Current objectives and examples of achievements then make up the bulk of the CAP.
In addition to our Trust Climate Action Plan, we have tasked each academy with creating their own mini-CAPs. These plans align with trust priorities but are also tailored to reflect each academy’s unique context and are driven by the students in the eco-committees. Currently, several of our academies now have these plans in place, and over the next year, we will work with those that do not yet have them.
Our goal for the end of the 2024–25 academic year is to ensure that every academy not only has an eco-lead and eco-committee but also has its own mini-Climate Action Plan outlining its objectives. This approach ensures a cohesive and comprehensive strategy for sustainability across our entire trust.
What benefits have you seen?
One of the most rewarding aspects of our sustainability initiatives has been witnessing the enthusiasm of the students in our eco-committees. Their creativity and drive have been instrumental in pushing forward various projects and ideas. It’s been incredibly positive to see students having their voices heard and engaging with each other on climate change and sustainability. This engagement has led to real innovations and a sense of responsibility among students to bring about change within their academies.
We are also working to ensure that students can collaborate with academy operations managers, allowing their voices to be heard and enabling them to see the tangible differences being made. For instance, as part of our energy-saving initiatives, we share academy energy usage figures with students. This transparency supports students in asking questions about energy use and identifying practical ways to make a difference.
We have also seen real potential for strengthening community links. For example, one of our schools is developing a school garden and is collaborating with a local rotary club. They are also receiving support from Skanska, a road construction company as part of their community outreach. As part of this students from one of our eco-committees have participated in a series of climate change workshops. Additionally, some of our primary schools have engaged in community litter picks, and we continue to focus on strengthening these community connections.
From the trust’s perspective, there are multiple benefits, including financial savings, environmental improvements, and fulfilling our ethical and moral responsibility to act on sustainability. It also represents good governance. Our efforts have been recognized with the Chartered Governance Institute’s 2023 award for social governance, where we were shortlisted alongside large companies such as John Lewis and Legal & General. We also recently won the Environmental Trust of the Year award in the MAT Excellence Awards. Some of our schools have also now achieved the Eco Schools Green-Flag award.
What barriers have you faced?
Time and money are the primary barriers we face in implementing our sustainability plan, which is a common challenge for most schools. While we have been able to use operational funding for sustainability investment in initiatives such as photovoltaics, increased building and roof efficiencies in energy retention and installing LED lights, there is little to no funding available specifically for more individual sustainability projects at the academy level. Projects like school gardens and eco-committee activities often rely on fundraising efforts or small grants, which are not only limited but also time-consuming to secure. Funding is often also targeted and not necessarily available to all academies. For example, a small number of our academies, those in Doncaster, have been eligible for funding from the National Education Nature Park (NENP) which they have been able to use to good effect to increase biodiversity in their grounds (for example Woodfields Academy).
Our eco-leads, who are crucial to driving these initiatives, take on these roles voluntarily without additional time or financial support. This inevitably limits what can be achieved. Additionally, time constraints and other pressing priorities, such as Ofsted preparation, can understandably divert focus away from sustainability efforts at times. Balancing these priorities can be challenging and sometimes acts as a barrier to ensuring all schools are fully engaged. For instance, while we have mini-CAPs in place for several academies and many have eco-leads and eco-committees we recognise the need to re-launch our efforts in some academies in 2024–25 to maximise buy-in across the board.
This ebb and flow is natural in schools, given their busy environments and the multitude of priorities that need to be managed. However, our trust leaders are deeply committed to supporting sustainability work. We continue to collaborate and explore ways to overcome these barriers, but in a fast-paced educational setting, this remains an ongoing effort.
How do you communicate with your schools?
I have found that Microsoft Teams is one of the best ways to coordinate and communicate across our large number of schools. It allows eco-leads to contact each other and contribute to discussions and ultimately, I hope it will foster a self-driven network. While I coordinate and moderate, my goal is for eco-leads to seek advice and share good practices amongst each other.
I frequently post about upcoming sustainability events, important links, and key stories. I also provide access to bulletins, meeting agendas, and videos of meetings for those who can’t attend live. Additionally, I have been using SharePoint to create a GoGreen hub, which includes a homepage, and academies showcase page where each academy will eventually have their own sustainability page to share good practice and news of what their eco-committees are working on. I am also developing a sustainability resources page based on the ten topics that sit under the Eco-Schools framework.
How are decisions made about what projects to take part in?
As mentioned, we have three trust-wide projects that we encourage all academies to participate in each year. This central guidance is particularly helpful for schools with limited time, as it provides focus, resources, and links to save time. This year, we have asked schools to concentrate on energy and biodiversity.
Beyond these trust-wide projects, we encourage academies to pursue their own initiatives. We believe the most significant gains come from the innovation and drive of the eco-committees within each school. For example, one school noticed a lot of plastic bottles left after sports day the previous year, so they implemented a water refilling station at the next sports day to reduce disposable bottle use.
We have also encouraged all academies to sign up for the National Education Nature Park, aiming to have all schools enrolled by the end of 2024–25. This approach ensures a balance between central guidance and individual school innovation, maximising the impact of our sustainability efforts.
How do you find out about projects and funding?
I use social media a lot, particularly X (formerly known as Twitter), where I follow various individuals and organisations involved in sustainability. We also have the Astrea Go Green X account, which helps us connect with others doing similar work. Additionally, I’m part of the UK Schools Sustainability Network operations group, which is a great source of funding ideas.
I’m in regular contact with the climate advisers from Let’s Go Zero, who provide numerous ideas and information about competitions open to schools. I make sure to flag these opportunities and consolidate them for our schools. I also network with one of the coordinators for the new Climate Ambassadors scheme.
Furthermore, some of our schools in Doncaster are eligible for the National Education Nature Park grant. Two schools have already been awarded £10,000, and I’m currently working with two more schools to access this funding in the current round.
Do you think your approach would work in other schools?
Absolutely. I believe our approach could be successfully implemented in other schools. However, I would strongly advocate for a holistic sustainability policy, and this requires robust connections and commitment from both the central team and operations and the academies and curriculum teams.
A key element is having a leadership structure in place which can effectively bridge these two areas. I have been very lucky as a sustainability lead as my background as a teacher in our academies has given me a deep understanding of the practical working of our academies and the curriculum but additionally as a member of the central team, I have access to the operations teams and the full support and leadership of the COO. This dual perspective has been invaluable in helping to drive our sustainability initiatives forward by being able to connect the two and working to foster a truly holistic approach to sustainability within the trust.
We still have a lot to do, but our priorities and objectives reflect curriculum as well as operations. For example, in 2024–25 we are looking to embed climate literacy and education into our curriculum and strengthen our work on green careers.
