1. Home
  2. Your environment
  3. Climate change
  4. Advice for schools

Advice for schools

Schools can have a great influence over action on climate change from climate change education as part of the curriculum to the day to day running of the school. There is also the opportunity to raise awareness of actions that can be taken by both the children, their parents and staff.

The following section gives some ideas of actions that can be taken within the school as well as teaching and activity resources to engage pupils further in climate change.

Transport

  • Reduce the number of staff and parents driving to school. Instead encourage active travel such as walking, cycling and scooting as well as public transport use and car sharing. 
  • Campaign against engine idling whilst stationary at the school gates. Idling not only produces emissions, but it is also bad for air quality which has more of an effect on children's health due to their lungs still developing. 
  • Avoid flying on school trips, instead consider going somewhere closer or travelling by train, ferry or bus.

Food

  • Develop more vegetarian and vegan options for school meals and consider meat free days. This can also encourage pupils to eat more healthily. 

Energy

  • Develop an energy saving campaign to encourage behaviour change to switch off lights and equipment. 
  • Insulate and reduce the energy use of your buildings.
  • Install renewable energy such as solar panels and solar thermal on school buildings.

Waste

  • Run second-hand uniform shop to encourage reuse.
  • Review buying habits to produce less waste for example products with reduced packaging or less single use plastic items.
  • Donate or sell used furniture and equipment instead of throwing it away.
  • Ensure full understanding of what can be recycled onsite to encourage recycling and reduce contamination.

School Grounds

  • Take advantage of free trees for schools as well as other useful tree planting planning tools from the Woodland Trust.
  • Grow your own fruit and vegetables. A great way to introduce sustainable eating habits as well as encouraging children to eat more healthily. The Royal Horticultural Society has guidance pages for this.
  • Pollinator projects such as building insect hotels and growing wildflowers. Can also be a fun way to learn about the importance biodiversity and gain understanding on what pollinators do for our food chain.

Resources

Support and resources for schools

Tips

Form an Eco-Council

School council initiatives have long provided opportunities for student-led projects and innovation surrounding issues such as bullying, litter picking and energy saving. But why not take this idea further by establishing a separate board for students and staff to focus on positive climate action in your school? Let your Eco Council take charge of the topics discussed and help them realise ideas for school-wide or community projects and initiatives.

Invite inspirational speakers to your school

So much of current messaging around climate change, whilst designed to invoke reaction, can feel quite bleak, so when you want to help inspire your students, help them think further ahead to how they can grow to make a difference. Invite individuals from your community to speak about topics such as career opportunities in areas such as environmental science or sustainable architecture and design, or individuals from charitable groups that campaign for change and lobby governing bodies.

Create an awareness week or fortnight in your school

Creating an in-school awareness week or fortnight might take some forward planning but could be an effective way of making a difference as a collective and helping students measure their positive impact through actionable activities.

Using educational toolkits such as Transform Our World, ask your colleagues to plan how they can incorporate these resources into lessons throughout the week so that students can understand how bigger issues don’t just work in isolation. Could food technology involve designing a plant-based menu, your art students create sculptures out of recycled materials or geography lessons involve making a climate change pledge?

Here are some ideas you could combine:

  • In-school educational group visits (below)
  • Exhibit topical student artwork in public areas
  • Hold a drama or music performance assembly
  • Fundraising activities such as sponsored walks to school
  • Plan a beach or park clean
  • Hold swapping events for unwanted clothes, books etc.
  • Implement a meat-free week to raise awareness of plant-based alternatives

You could consider creating a checklist or journal for students to use either individually or as a class for the duration of your environmental awareness week that measures the impact of activities such as walking to school instead of being driven, swapping out meat for several days a week, fundraising achieved, or the number of items saved from landfill.

Cross-curricular activities and workshops

Have a look at some of the educational groups listed by organisations such as STEM Learning for in-school activity days and workshops that will get students and staff involved. Educational day workshops are designed to fit in line with your school’s curriculum, whilst raising awareness of key environmental issues and helping students of varying ages to understand why it matters. They’re usually fun and interesting ways of tackling topics from different perspectives, challenging a variety of different skills and encouraging cross-curricular learning.