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Organisations that can help you take action

There are lots of organisations that can help you take action in your school curriculum. Take a look at the help available and discover what other schools are doing.

Global Action Plan is a charity working for a green and thriving planet where people enjoy their lives within the earth’s resources. Transform Our World is their online, centralised, quality-rated resource hub full of free, practical resources to help teachers to bring environmental action into the classroom. It provides opportunities for students to lead impactful projects that tackle the root causes of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss. The range of curriculum-linked, low prep resources is teacher-reviewed and tested, to ensure it is as easy as possible for teachers to channel the excitement around climate action into schools-based activities.  

For over 30 years, WWF has been working with teachers and schools to provide a wide range of topical classroom resources and real-world activities to engage and inspire young people. Over 10,000 UK schools participate in their education programmes and they have a wide range of climate change resources, species and food growing activities to inspire pupils. Their work with schools is part of their mission to build a brighter future for both people and nature.  

The Eco-Schools programme consists of three structural elements: The Seven Step Framework, the Eco-Schools Topics and assessment for the international Green Flag award. To be successful, the programme requires support from school leaders and active involvement from staff, as well as a long-term commitment and the willingness to involve students in decision-making.   

England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales 

The Young People’s Trust for the Environment (YPTE) is a charity that encourages young people’s understanding of the environment. It aims to give young people clear and balanced information on a wide range of environmental issues. YPTE provides a range of free education services and resources for schools in the UK, including downloadable lesson plans, talks/ presentations videos and an extensive fact sheet library. 

YPTE also runs the Primary Awards for Green Education in Schools (PAGES), a competition to encourage and celebrate environmental education and Better Planet Schools, an all-year online environmental education platform.  Both initiatives are open to primary schools anywhere in the UK.

Green Schools Project’s Zero Carbon Schools Programme is a series of pupil sessions, teacher training and community engagement outreach that supports pupils to learn more about climate change and for schools to reduce their carbon emissions. The programme explores the causes and effects of the climate crisis, investigates schools’ carbon footprints and enables pupils to design projects to reduce carbon emissions and inspire climate action. It starts after October half term and runs until the end of the school year. Find out more and sign up here! 

Climate Ed is a registered charity which offers primary school workshops about carbon literacy and climate action led by experienced volunteers. We have worked with over 160 schools across London and we have excellent testimonials. We currently have volunteers available in your area so if you would like to have the programme delivered at your school then just get in touch on contact@climateed.net. The programme is completely free, consists of five one-hour workshops spread over five weeks and is suitable for Years 4, 5 and 6.  You can learn more about us here: https://www.climateed.net/

Region: London

Young Climate Warriors aims to inspire a national team of children who are engaged and empowered to help tackle climate change. They provide weekly, term-time and age-appropriate fun climate change related challenges encouraging carbon emissions-busting action, sustainable living choices and an appreciation of nature. Being part of a wider, virtual national team enables children’s voices to be heard and encourages a positive sense of collective action.  

Young Climate Warriors provides teachers with a weekly ‘schools pack’ linking to the weekly challenge topic – with ready-to-use, trustworthy, rigorous and reliable resources.  With a positive outlook, and a ‘this is do-able’ mindset, they encourage action – ‘little by little, a little becomes a lot’. They also offer a series of 10 sessions as a  ‘Climate Change Club in a Box‘; a resource that can be used by an eco-council, after-school club, or to stimulate form time discussion.  Their Ambassador Programme links schools with local ambassadors and provides in-person, discussion-based, interactive climate change assemblies. Materials are designed for children aged 7 – 14yrs. (KS2 and KS3). 

Tomorrow’s climate scientists is an extension to the Society’s school funding programme Partnership Grants. Introduced in 2020, Tomorrow’s climate scientists aim to give students across the UK not just a voice, but an opportunity to take action themselves to address climate and biodiversity issues – to become the climate scientists of tomorrow. All UK schools with students aged 5 to 18 can apply for grants of up to £3,000 to run investigative STEM projects in partnership with STEM professionals from academia or industry. It supports students to develop green skills as the UK moves towards a net zero future and provides additional opportunities for schools, including producing short films about their projects and sharing their work with the media.

This scheme is open to applications across the year with three possible submission deadlines at the end of April, June and November. A full timeline can be found here. To help teachers and STEM partners with the application, free online training sessions and drop-in applicant support sessions are being run. Find out more about the scheme or contact the Schools Engagement team with any questions via education@royalsociety.org or 0207 451 2531.

Earth Cubs is the environmental learning platform for primary schools. Their unique curriculum covers the UN’s 17 Global Goals; bringing essential sustainability, climate change, equality and more into the classroom! It’s free to use for all their incredible interactive resources, you can sign up here earthcubs.com 

The Harmony Project is an education charity aiming to put sustainability and Nature at the heart of learning. We work with primary schools in the UK and around the world to support them in developing projects of learning framed around Nature’s principles of Harmony, principles of interdependence, cycles, diversity, adaptation, health and oneness.  The learning is applied through sustainable practices that students are empowered to lead on so that they see themselves as agents of change for the future.  Our message is simple.  If we want to live sustainably, we must start by understanding principles of Harmony. 

JUST ONE Tree provides free environmental resources to schools and helps pupils to connect with their natural world on both a local and global scale. 

Their JUST ONE Tree Day in October is a yearly non-uniform event enjoyed by schools around the world. It reduces climate anxiety, empowers through positive action, drives reforestation and raises climate awareness. For every £1 raised a tree is planted where it’s needed the most. With our free teaching resources and information, it’s an easy way for schools to support students to learn, feel empowered and have fun. It also costs nothing for schools to take part. If you’re part of a teaching trust or group of schools, they can also come and talk at an assembly or provide a video. Get in touch for more info. 

The award-winning JUST ONE Tree focuses on removing CO2 from the atmosphere and reversing biodiversity loss through global reforestation. Working across both land and oceans, they empower local communities, shape the next generation of planet-conscious thinkers and are proud partners of the UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

The Ministry of Eco Education weaves together the best free resources into series of lessons to help schools embed sustainability across the curriculum for every pupil in every lesson. The MEE approach helps schools engage with the wealth of opportunities and save teachers time but incorporating initiatives into every lesson, whilst linked to the national curriculum . The Ministry of Eco Education has a proven track record of increasing teacher confidence, nature connection, sense of hope and creating opportunities for wider community action. Follow the Ministry of Eco Education’s 5 step process to embed whole school sustainability and become a zero carbon school.

Need Inspiration?

Find out how schools around the UK are taking action on climate change

Watch our Webinar on Curriculum for further advice and guidance.

Here is the running order in case you want to skip to a certain section:

  • 0 – 4 mins – Update on Let’s Go Zero
  • 4 – 22mins – Sian Williams, Principal, King’s Academy Ringmer Secondary School
  • 22 – 37 mins – Hannah Tombling, Nursery Teacher and Eco-Schools Lead, Diamond Wood Community Academy
  • 37 – 42mins – Q+A
  • 42 – 57mins – Paul Turner, Ministry of Eco Education
  • 57mins – end – Alison Lasenby, Programme Officer, Let’s Go Zero talking about two competitions 

Schools are also advised to contact your local authority to see what they offer in terms of support.

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