Climate Action in Leeds Schools
Project description
A project to support Leeds schools with climate action, including work on the curriculum, decarbonisation, adaptation and resilience, and improving biodiversity.
The group aims to identify barriers and signpost schools to the support available to take action.
Planned outputs include an audit of current position in Leeds schools with climate action plans and sustainability leads to identify barriers; development of a support package for schools, and a programme to link schools for support.
Group members
Leeds Climate Commission, Leeds City Council, Global Learning Leeds, Leeds Learning Alliance, University of Leeds, several schools and councillors, Climate Ambassadors, Climate Action Leeds, Lets Go Zero, Youth Work Unit, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, RHS Nature Park and Another Way are all involved.
Tell us what your school is doing!
Proud of the climate and sustainability work your school is doing? Tell us all about it – and check out the great work already taking place across the city – on our Leeds Climate Schools Padlet.
What’s going on?
Leeds Climate Commission’s Schools group is asking all schools and colleges in Leeds to assist them in finding out how far climate and sustainability is embedded in curriculums and practices across the city.
In England, all schools are expected to implement a climate action plan and nominate a sustainability lead by 2025, as part of the Department for Education’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy (see DfE, 2023). However, little is known about how these plans are enacted in practice.
The Leeds project aims to review primary and secondary schools’ climate action plans and survey schools’ sustainability leads to explore their challenges and successes. Findings will be followed up with case studies on selected schools to compare climate action plan implementation and impacts.
Plans will also be evaluated against a climate literacy framework for education.
The survey will build a clearer picture of how sustainability leadership and climate action planning are being implemented across schools in Leeds and inform future developments. As well as developing a baseline of climate action in Leeds schools, the project also aims to identify and offer support to schools that do not yet have a climate action plan or sustainability lead.
The online survey takes 15 minutes to do, and will be emailed to all Leeds schools in September. Schools can also participate directly completing the survey online.
An innovative project led by children to co-design climate-resilient school playgrounds will be unveiled at the University of Leeds on 11 September.
The celebration and dissemination event will showcase pupils from Grimes Dyke Primary School in Leeds and includes a live performance of a script they have co-written as part of a story-based climate adaptation toolkit for schools.
The project, Playgrounds of Possibility: Youth-Led Visions of Transformational Adaptation, brings together educators, climate practitioners and community partners to explore how children and young people can play a meaningful role in shaping climate adaptation.
It is hoped that the outputs of the project – an audio storybook voiced by the children, a catalogue of climate-resilient playground interventions, and the development of demonstrators at Grimes Dyke – will ultimately be adopted by other schools.
The project used creative and participatory approaches with pupils to tackle the subject, including getting children to survey their playground and design their own ‘dream playgrounds’ using Lego and other materials, as well as writing a ‘playground manifesto’ on what would improve play conditions to share with their MP.
Playgrounds of Possibility was organised through Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission and delivered by Leeds Climate Commissioners in partnership with Vesper Hill and supported by the Maximising Adaptation to Climate Change Hub.
Climate Ambassadors
Funded by the Department for Education, the Climate Ambassadors project offers every education setting in England free access to volunteer support to develop and deliver impactful climate action plans. They put volunteer interest and experience in sustainability and climate change to practical use and support education settings to reduce carbon emissions, tackle climate risks and inspire and inform the next generation.
Get involved or find out more: visit https://climateambassadors.org.uk/get-involved/ or contact hello@climateambassadors.org.uk
Get involved
Schools and teachers are invited to join Leeds Climate Schools network. Contact Cllr Katie Dye Katie.Dye@leeds.gov.uk.
