Welcome to the new London Schools Eco-Network staff newsletter
Please do pass on to students as appropriate.
If you know of someone who would like to receive our round up LSEN updates, eco education news and activism news please ask them to get in touch with us via our new email address - info@lsen.co.uk
Our student members run the LSEN social media accounts - links are just below.
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All change starts small
The story of how the LSEN grew and grew!
Back in 2019 two secondary school eco-committees in Hammersmith joined forces, visiting each other and running primary school workshops. They were soon joined by a few more nearby schools and so began the story of the London Schools Eco-Network….
Around this time, staff from across London kept bumping into each other at sustainability conferences and events. We also decided that when it came to making change happen, 'strength in numbers' made a lot of sense! We started meeting informally to discuss sustainability in our respective schools and as we grew in number, we invited students representatives to meet alongside us and run their own campaigns.
Our model of youth-run and teacher-supported campaigns has been so successful that there are now regional networks all over the UK in Berkshire, the Midlands, Avon and Surrey. These regional networks now come together as the UK Schools Sustainability Network (UKSSN).
The networks that started as representatives from a few schools in London in 2019 now boast reps from around 60 secondary schools across the UK (maintained and independent, mixed and single sex, day and boarding), each working with local primary schools and communities, as well as schools and organisations abroad including Ireland, Russia, Kenya, South Africa, Bulgaria, Nepal and Korea.
Each regional network brings together Year 10-13 reps from different schools to lead and organise their own meetings, agree on priorities and collaborate on projects with full support and training from teachers. Initiatives have included joint school video assemblies, newsletters, MP green economic recovery and sustainable Christmas campaigns, and the November 2020 UK Youth Climate Summit.
New regional networks are continually setting up, brought together by an overarching UK network of regional student representatives. Staff branches act as support networks for educators from various disciplines to share resources and ideas. The networks are run at grassroots level but central management is being taken on by the environmental charity Global Action Plan to enable wider reach and reduce the administrative burden on school teachers.
- for more information on LSEN contact info@lsen.co.uk
- for more information on the networks and for support to set up something similar contact Jessica.Tipton@globalactionplan.org.uk
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Empowering Youth Voice In A Climate Crisis
a 60 minute Zoom conference for school students in Years 10 to 13
Wednesday 17th March
6pm
Joining instructions below
This Zoom meeting is hosted by Andrew Petrie and James Butler of King Edward's School Edgbaston, Founders of the Midlands Schools Eco-Network, and safeguarded by teachers from the UK Schools Eco-Network, in partnership with Footsteps - Faiths for a Low Carbon Future.
We've invited three climate activists from the Midlands to help us understand how we can make our voices heard in the climate movement on a regional and national level. Students will hear about how to accelerate change through established democratic channels, and how to get our collective youth voice heard ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in November. Students will have the opportunity to pose questions, discuss the issues in breakout rooms, and hear recommendations on joining local and national climate groups.
- Kamran Shezad - BAHU Trust sustainability lead and member of the UK Government’s Community and Young People engagement group chaired by COP26 President Alok Sharma
- Cllr Lisa Trickett - Birmingham City Councillor and Places in Common advisor to the Birmingham Route to Zero Taskforce
- Fay Holland - Friends of the Earth volunteer campaigner on climate change, transport, air quality and nature.
Instructions for students - For the Zoom link, get permission from your parents and then use your school email address to contact James Butler on jb@kes.org.uk, ccing the teacher at your school in charge of your Eco or Sustainability group, or your form teacher so that they know you're attending. Only those students who have been emailed this link by jb@kes.org.uk will be allowed from the Waiting Room into the Zoom meeting.
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Secondary teachers - learn how to use climate change resources from You & CO2
Wednesday 17th March
7.30pm
Register here
Join this 30 minute workshop with the researchers who created the You & CO2 climate change education programme!
An opportunity for secondary school teachers to find out more about the workshops and the resources available to them, as well as ask questions and discuss the different ways the programme can be used in the classroom (in person or online).
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Take part in a survey of Sixth Form students and teachers across the UK exploring climate change, hope and the future
The questionnaire is:
● for 16-18 year-olds (and their teachers)
● anonymous
● about 15 minutes to complete
This survey is part of Bill Finnegan’s doctoral research at the University of Oxford School of Geography and the Environment. More information about his research is available in an online information pack. You can also view a short video that introduces the questionnaire.
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Call for participants - Teachers’ work in the age of climate emergencies
Dr Haira Gandolfi, former science teacher and lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, is running a small-scale study about the perspectives and work of teachers around issues related to climate change, environmental emergencies and social participation.
"I believe that the work of schoolteachers around the current environmental crisis is important and urgent. I am seeking to interview (no more than 1h, using an online platform) schoolteachers in the UK who have been engaging with issues of climate and other environmental issues as part of (but not necessarily exclusively) their teaching work in any school subject or age group. If you are interested in contributing to this study, and/or if you know any teachers who might, please do get in touch (contact details below) and spread the word across your networks. Any level of participation and support to this study would be of value."
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UK Student Climate Network London group - mayoral election campaign
UKSCN London have launched their new campaign around the mayoral elections. Many of the electoral candidates expressed their support for the climate strikes last year, now they are asking the candidates to prove their commitment to climate justice by agreeing to four pledges: zero carbon by 2030; green housing; green transport; empowering Londoners.
You can read the full demands here
What can you do?
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Share on social media! They’ve made a handy messaging guide with draft tweets, graphics and more you can use, or feel free to make your own!
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Keep your eye out on their social media - @ukscn_london on Twitter and Instagram and use the hashtag #LondonClimateElection
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Force of Nature Report - The rise of eco-anxiety
Clover Hogan has published a report to highlight how "young people in 50+ countries are responding mentally and emotionally to the climate crisis"
She says "the purpose of this report is to contribute to the growing body of knowledge around how the climate crisis profoundly affects mental health, especially in young people. We’ve now sat down and spoken to 500+ people like us, ages 15 - 25, to understand their lived experience of this crisis; both as a direct and impending threat. We’ve been collecting quantitative and qualitative data via surveys, interviews and our Climate Anxiety to Agency classrooms. These are online safe spaces for young people to connect, be heard, and channel their feelings of anxiety into action."
You can access the report here
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Let’s Go Zero 2030
Let's Go Zero is a network uniting schools across the UK who are working towards being carbon zero by 2030. The national campaign is demanding Government back zero carbon schools, and by signing up and sharing what you’re doing you can be part of the campaign. Learn more here.
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How can we empower young people as climate change makers?
Tuesday 23rd March
6pm
Register here
How can those working within education, policy makers, leaders and campaigners, support and innovate with young people to address the climate crisis?
Join this RSA Innovative Education Network event to hear our speakers explore a range of issues concerned with climate change, as well as innovative practices connected to empowering young people as climate change makers. There will also be an opportunity to share your own thoughts, ideas and experience of these issues. The event is open to all and will be interactive. We’re delighted to be joined by some of the UK’s leading innovators in this space:
Sir Tim Smit KBE - Co-Founder of the Eden Project
Sir Tim will talk about the various challenges we are all experiencing around climate change and his work connected to the Eden Project and the development of educational initiatives.
Rachel Tomlinson - Head of Barrowford Primary School
Rachel will talk about Barrowford’s pupil-centred and project-based learning approach to environmental and sustainability education and their role as an Ashoka Changemaker School.
Maya Lingam - Founder of EcoSpot
Maya will share the story of EcoSpot, a community platform that engages children and their families with sustainability, at school and at home.
Robson Augusta - Teach the Future
Robson is an 18 year old Climate activist. He is also a volunteer coordinator with Teach the Future with his focus on local government in England. Teach the Future is a youth-led campaign aimed at urgently repurposing the education system around the climate emergency and ecological crisis. They explore ways in which the education system can place climate change at the core of the curriculum.
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NAEE - "all school leavers should have an essential understanding of key environmental issues"
The National Association for Environmental Education (has presented written evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee's Green Jobs inquiry calling for all school leavers to have an essential understanding of key environmental issues.
"We argue that in our 21st Century economy every job is a green job because of the environmental laws and regulations that are now a routine part of any employment together with the moral imperatives which underpin them. The evidence can be found here.
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Teachers For Climate Action, and Hope For the Future, are organising an event to bring together teachers, parents, students and their MP in an online classroom to foster relationships and build knowledge around the climate and ecological emergency.
The hour-long event will see inspirational teachers and activists explore the climate crisis, our relationship with nature, lifestyle choices, climate anxiety and most importantly how education can respond.
We have incredible power through our individual actions.
Follow the instructions here https://forms.gle/i5Yy82QCpwsk6Fdd6 to invite your MP and sign up for the event.
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