School students take part in University climate conference
SEVEN schools got eco-savvy at a University of Reading event which challenged students to explore ways of tackling one of Earth’s most pressing issues.
Leighton Park School sent three groups of students to the Climate Change Action Planning Workshop: the working party, the student support group and the media team - each given their own briefs.
Topics such as decarbonisation, education, green jobs, biodiversity and adaptation for the future were discussed, with the university creating priorities and a timeline to action many of the ideas put forward.
Both the school and university are based on Shinfield Road, and expressed their desire to continue working closely on community projects moving forward.
Sustainability lead and geography teacher, Oliver Staines, explained: “The focus of the day was coming up with our own climate change action plan with the University of Reading providing experts to ask probing questions which was great to push ideas forwards.
“We left with loads of ideas on how to move the School forward and to change the culture throughout the School. I think the students who went got a lot out of it; they were thoughtful, creative and sparky students who really got into it during the day.”
Leighton Park was one of four secondary schools in attendance, and their student support group helped the three primary schools with 1 their 28/07/2022 work. 15:38
Deyla, Lower Sixth, explained: “We also collaborated with primary school officials and helped them form some plans to introduce sustainability to young children.
“In the end, we attended the afternoon session talk summarising the ways in which schools can introduce a more sustainable environment. Later in June, we are going to visit primary schools to introduce sustainability to children. Overall, the workshop was really informative.”
The team was also responsible for keeping workshop participants entertained during the lunch break, using a game called ‘How Bad are Bananas?’ to get people thinking about food items’ carbon emissions.
Members of the school’s media team looked to capture the event as a follow up to their initial documentary, Climate of Change, which showcased the experiences of students who attended COP26.
Livi, Year 10, was part of the process and said: “I was involved in the filming and interviewing of climate experts to make a documentary about the university’s event.
“The first film was a rallying call; this second film is the action actually happening. We met and interviewed experts from the climate science industry, and each of them was so passionate; they each had something unique to say.
“Building our own action plan with other schools and people from the LP community really helped me feel like a change-maker.”
Mark Budge, STEAM Coordinator, who organised the event, said: “It was great to hear what the students thought and fantastic to see how Leighton Park pupils interacted with all the adults, doing the interviews and meeting people.
“That is what climate change action is all about: involving the students.”