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
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.
Vicky Featherstone is the Eco-Lead at Highfields Primary School in Leicester. We spoke to her about how she encourages and promotes climate education at her school.
What is your role in climate education at your school?
I’m a class teacher in EYFS (early years foundation stage) and I’m also the Eco-Lead. My role is to teach the school and the children about climate change and sustainability and try to start some good practices. I come up with ideas for how we can live a more sustainable lifestyle, for the children, the staff and the parents.
What’s your school like?
We’ve got about 370 pupils, all the way from age 3 to age 11. We have a lot of EAL (English as an additional language) children. Our children speak quite a range of different languages.
It’s an inner-city school in a built-up area. We haven’t got much ground and that’s typical of the whole area. A lot of the children live in flats and don’t go out of the city much. Not many of them would go to the countryside on a day trip.
Why is sustainability important to you and your school?
It’s important to me because when you hear what climate scientists are saying, it’s quite a scary future we’re looking at. Eco-Schools is a way of trying to rectify some of those mistakes that we’re making. It’s shaping young children who can then go on to make positive changes, and encouraging our school community to be more environmentally minded.
Have you had any training around sustainability or climate education?
When I first took over as Eco-Lead I had training from the Sustainable Schools team at Leicester City Council. They do things throughout the year. I’ve just done the Carbon Literacy training, which was eye-opening.
What activities have you undertaken at your school?
Last year, we took part in the Urban Nature Project. Our school is quite urban — we don’t have many green spaces. We had a pot of money from Air Wick and the WWF to make our environment more ecologically friendly.
We planted wildflowers and installed bat boxes, hedgehog boxes, bird houses and bird feeders. We introduced a water table because we haven’t really got room for a pond, and bug houses to get a bit more insect life. The children really enjoyed it. I think they found it quite beneficial and it’s nice to do something a little bit different led by someone coming in from the Sustainable Schools team.
This year we’ve focused on energy. With the Eco Group we’ve labelled all the switches and talked to the staff about the Energy Sparks scheme. The Sustainable Schools team came into assembly to talk about saving energy. It’s really useful when external people come in as the children take it on a bit more and are more engaged.
We also do litter picks. We did the Less Litter for Leicester campaign and we had over 60 children volunteering. They really enjoyed that because it is something a bit different to do on their lunchtime and they can see the positive impact it has. The children found it quite eye-opening how much litter there was. We’ll be doing it again this year.
This year we had someone from Walk to Schools come in and talk about travel tracker. We’ve had really high engagement with it. We entered the school badge competition and I had so many entries, it seemed like the whole school was interested in it.
We have done other things too, including the Leicester Mealbarrow food-growing competition, and we completed the Plastic Clever Schools scheme to reduce single-use plastics.
How do you decide what projects to take part in?
At the start of the year we conduct an environmental review. Each Eco-Schools topic is given a score and we can see which areas we need to focus on. This year, litter was one of our lowest scoring areas, so that was part of the reason why we chose to do something around that. In general, we also look for things that we don’t have to pay a lot of money for or that are convenient.
But it’s also what’s available to us. Sustainable Schools lent us the litter pickers, so we had the resources provided. And from past experience, we know the children are really keen and really interested in it. It’s quite a clear project — you do the litter pick, you weigh it, and you can see the difference.
In terms of including climate education in the curriculum, there are links included in our long-term curriculum planning. From looking at the children’s books, the teachers do a great job of making this engaging and relevant.
What benefits have you seen for the students and the school?
You get the bonus that you improve the school grounds. For example, as part of the Urban Nature Project last year we got a water butt, which has massively changed how we can use the allotment. It’s a lot easier now to go and water the plants which was quite logistically difficult before. We’ve been able to see insects in the bug hotel, and the plants we planted are slowly establishing themselves.
The feedback from the children is really positive as well. They are very invested in it. We recently attended Leicester City Council’s Eco Celebration event and I was so impressed with how well the Eco Team were able to talk about the work we have been doing and how passionate they are.
What barriers have you faced?
I think for me, time is quite a barrier. As Eco-Lead and also a class teacher, I’m limited on how much time I can ask to be taken out of class to work on eco projects. A lot of the things I do in my own time.
Finance is another — we wouldn’t take on a big project where it would be costly. In previous years we’ve done the Great Big Green Week, where you get £100 to do a project. Even for things like buying seeds, I don’t have a budget, so we needed that money to go and buy seeds and sort the allotment out.
Where do you find out about funding projects and opportunities?
Mostly through Sustainable Schools emails and news bulletins, but also through following Eco-Schools on Facebook.
Do you think your approach to climate education could be successful in all schools?
Yes. I don’t think our children are exceptional in being concerned about climate change. And we have shown that even with limited garden space there is a lot you can do.
I think a lot of teachers are already linking climate and sustainability to their existing curriculum. When they do science and geography, climate change is unavoidable.
Richard Smith is the Eco-Schools lead at Inglehurst Junior School in Leicester. We spoke to him about his experiences of climate and sustainability education.
What is your role?
I run a specialist unit in the school for autistic children, I’m a designated safeguarding lead, and I’m also the lead for Eco-Schools here at Inglehurst Junior School. We’re an inner-city school with about 320 children from many different countries.
Why is sustainability important to you and your school?
I think it’s important to do things that are good for the environment. We need to change our habits to make the future better for the children.
Have you had any training around sustainability or climate education?
Yes. We’ve been doing Eco-Schools for quite some time. I did the Carbon Literacy training from the council, and the Less CO2 programme delivered by Ashden.
What activities have you undertaken at your school?
On the energy side, we’ve got solar panels placed on the roof, and we’ve had the LED lighting changed. We are part of the Plastic Clever Schools programme. We’ve been doing the Litter Less campaign, and we took part in the Mealbarrow competition last year. We also have Severn Trent doing some assemblies about water at the moment.
Every year we have a Global Goals week where each class takes one of the UN’s sustainable development goals and runs with that for a week. So for example, one class might do rainforests, another might do marine life, and then we have an exhibition at the end where parents come and look around the stands.
We’ve also been part of the Tiny Forest programme. We have a field at the top of the road and we’ve turned part of it into an outdoor learning area. We’ve planted hundreds of trees and installed an area with seating.
How do you decide what projects to take part in?
The energy one is quite important because it’s saving the school money. At the moment we’re doing the school grounds, so when I feel it’s looking a bit scruffy I try to do something. I had four tonnes of bark delivered yesterday.
We always tend to do the Litter Less campaign because our field always needs a bit of a spring clean by March or April.
What benefits have you seen for the students and the school?
Obviously there’s a monetary benefit from the solar panels, and we’ve also got a new boiler to make it more efficient. And I think it just puts a bit more pride into the school when the school grounds are looking nicer. We’ve also been part of the Healthy Schools project, so that’s given children a much greater awareness of healthy eating.
How do you decide what projects to take part in?
It’s a mixture of me and the students. We meet on a regular basis and sometimes the children come up with their own ideas. At the start of the year we do an environmental review and see what areas are slipping. So we might say, it’s not looking so good on how we look after our water. Then the premises officer will join us at the meeting and he might come up with different types of taps, or new water butts. So we’ll have a look at the topic and the children will come up with ideas and decide what’s feasible.
The children can be quite right. They’ll come up with a litter picking rota. And we’ll send a newsletter out and the children have said it’s a good idea to put top tips on there on how to save energy.
What barriers have you faced and how do you overcome them?
The number one barrier is finance. Resources are expensive. Another one is not having the right grounds to have a proper forest school or an area where we can have a little fire. The way to overcome that is to train somebody up, but the cost of training that person would be a barrier.
It also needs people who are enthusiastic, and not just one person. You probably need to have a team of more than one or two or three people if you’re going to have a few projects going at the same time.
How do you find out about funding opportunities and projects?
We get a newsletter from the local authority which contains project ideas. Quite often the headteacher will tell us about emails they’ve received or projects that different heads have been talking about.
How do you decide which projects to take part in?
I decide if it’s of interest. For example, the Mealbarrow competition was good because I know the gardening club grows things that we could enter. The Litter Less campaign was quite an easy one because we’ve already got the equipment.
I look at the jigsaw and see what pieces are going on in the school and then try and put them together so we’ve probably got a good half-a-dozen projects on the go.
I don’t invest in things that I don’t think will be worth the effort. When it comes to something like battery recycling, we could do it for three months and end up with 15 batteries. It may be the case elsewhere that children turn up with 300 batteries, but in our kind of catchment area, we’ve tried in the past and it’s not been successful.
What makes a successful project?
The energy that people put into them. For example, with the Mealbarrow competition, the children really enjoyed it and we came in second place and won some vouchers. It looked really, really nice and the children got a lot of pride out of doing it.
So the successful ones are the ones that you invest a bit of time and energy in and there’s an end product that you can see. Another example is our garden area. Making it look nicer is a quick fix that’s both visually pleasing and creates a good resource for the children.
Do you think your approach would be successful in all schools?
I don’t see why not. With Eco-Schools there’s a standard process that you go through and then you can customise it to your school. For example, there’s no point in us saying we’ll go and count the plastic on the beach because we’re nowhere near a beach. And it’s sometimes a little bit much, getting on your high horse and telling the children they should be eating fresh plums and pomegranates every day, when the bottom line is they can only afford a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar. You have to cater to your demographics.
But the basics of litter picking, reducing plastic, having nice environmental school grounds, collecting water from the water butts — these things don’t cost a lot of money and are almost generic. In the main, it’s just common sense.
Queensmead Primary Academy is a primary school in a disadvantaged area of Leicester. We spoke to Principal Liz Latham and Premises Officer Simon Ingall about the importance they place on climate education in their school.
What are your roles in climate education at your school?
Liz: I’m the Principal, so ultimately the buck stops with me. I manage the resources and, along with the senior leadership team, make sure the children are listened to and facilitate what they want to do around climate change and sustainability.
Simon: I’m the site manager. My main responsibility is to try to make the school carbon-free as much as possible, which includes things like electricity, gas, LED lighting and solar panels.
I also work with the children on the Eco Group. We nominate a child from foundation right up to Year 6, and they are responsible for making sure that the rest of the children and teachers recycle correctly in classrooms. When the children have had training through the year groups, they become an Eco-Warrior in Year 6. This involves all sorts of activities including recycling, tree planting and litter picking.
What’s your school like?
Liz: In terms of the community that we are very proud to serve, we’re in the top 10% on the national social deprivation indices. We have a high number of children who live in very challenging circumstances, with around 40% on free school meals and many with parents who traditionally don’t tend to engage with school life. We see it as our moral duty to prepare the children as citizens of the future and give them the opportunity to formulate ideas about what society should look like.
Why is sustainability important to you and your school?
Liz: On a personal level, our generation has messed up the world and we’ve got to put it right. For the children, they have an awe and wonder of the natural world and they want to protect and preserve that. It’s our job to harness that and give them the tools they need to be proactive. And we often find that we can get to the parents through the children, because the children know how to make real practical changes that have a positive impact on their home life.
Have you had any training around sustainability or climate education?
Liz: Our local authority is phenomenal. They have a team of people who are really active and really engaged with getting into schools, sharing resources and offering training. Simon has been on lots of training through the local authority, but also through other agencies like Earthwatch Europe.
What activities have you undertaken at your school?
Liz: We got all sorts of things going through Polli:Gen. We had the Tiny Forest, which took no financial commitment as it was all charity-based. We were very proud to have the first Tiny Forest planted in Leicester, enabling our children to be citizen scientists. Our Forest School lead now uses it as a resource, so it’s giving the children that experience to be outside and increase their knowledge.
We also got a polytunnel through the Edible Playgrounds project. Again, there was no cost to the school, which is a significant issue because of our tight budget. We were given a grant by the David Cock Foundation to build a polytunnel and some planters so the children can grow food. It’s great for them to be able to feel the soil on their fingers and pull out a radish that they’ve grown themselves and eat it. It’s really important for children to see that cycle of growing.
How do you decide what projects to take part in?
Liz: Funding is a big one. If we’d have had to pay for the Tiny Forest ourselves, it wouldn’t be there. And the same with the Edible Playgrounds, because I haven’t got the money in the budget for that sort of thing
What benefits have you seen for the school?
Simon: It helps me cut down the cost of running the school. Recycling has reduced our waste bill from £11,000 to £4,500. The solar panels and LED lighting are going to save us money because our carbon footprint has gone down considerably. It means we can invest more money back into schoolbooks and things like that.
Liz: It can also make happier and more contented teachers, because they’re not tied to timetables as much. They can go outside and give space to sustainability, climate and the range of biodiversity projects that we have here.
It also helps build the children’s characters and aspirations. I am utterly convinced that the strong personal development in our school that runs across every year group is why our results are so high. We’re 20% above national levels for SATs, which for this area is utterly phenomenal. It gives the pupils a voice and makes them take pride in the school, and that translates to their own personal life. They’re invested emotionally in making a difference to their local environment, not just at school but in the local community as well.
What barriers have you faced and how do you overcome them?
Liz: The obvious barrier is financial. We apply for grant funding and look out for free opportunities. We always say yes to things because you never know where it’s going to lead.
Another barrier can be staffing. It can be difficult for teaching staff to let go in terms of driving forward academic considerations. The pupils go outside and have their Forest School experience but they also need to learn to read, so it’s finding a balance between academic achievement and character-building activities. But we have strong leadership and we’re all committed to developing the children to become the best they can possibly be.
What would it take to be successful at this in all schools?
Liz: The DfE have got to take more responsibility in pushing sustainability forward. It’s going to take a particular sort of senior leader to embrace that and run with it because timetables are very busy and accountability is high It’s got to be embedded, and it’s got to come through things like the science curriculum and the geography curriculum.
It’s tricky, but it has to be done. Because if we keep on doing the same things to our world, we all know what the consequences are going to be. Things have got to change, and it starts with the pupils because they’re the ones who are going to lead it.
Everybody can do something, whether it’s turning the lights off or making sure your recycling is on point.
Simon: Absolutely. For example, we recycle all our unused fruit and compost it, and use the compost in the edible playground. By the time they get to Year 6, the children are running it themselves and just get on with it. It’s all about giving them responsibility and getting them to make the right choices. They learn leadership skills, decision-making and resilience.
