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We visited the RERF (Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility) and learned so much about the importance of recycling. We even saw the amazing 'claw' that picks up waste and drops it into a furnace burning at 1000 degrees! Back at school, we carried out an Eco-Audit to check if lights were being left on and if bins were being used properly. We also weighed our school's food waste for a week to see exactly how much we are throwing away, which has really made us think about how we can reduce it.

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We have partnered up with Living Streets and are launching our walk to school challenge next week.

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Yesterday our Eco Council spoke at the Leeds Climate Emergency Advisory Committee meeting, telling them all about the work we have been doing on our Climate Action Plan, and asking for some help on developing our site for pollinators. The Council were amazing - you can even watch it on YouTube!

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At the end of November, our pupils learnt about climate change in their classes as part of our Go Green Day. Children were invited to wear green and classes challenged themselves to go paperless and keep lights off or on low where possible.

Our Eco Warriors enjoyed buddying up with younger pupils to take part in litter picking around the school grounds. Each class also created a Go Green pledge with ideas on how they can care for the environment.

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This is a great way to discover what other schools are doing and to share ideas with our Eco Warriors. We’re excited for the Climate School Eco Conference tomorrow!

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We posted our climate action plan on our website last summer.

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Sustainability at Roundhay School - Roundhay School

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We are so proud of our curriculum here at New Bewerley! Thank you for inviting us Global Learning Leeds!

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"I hope you know that you inspire hope!" Saira Mumtaz Jones, Lead for Health and Wellbeing Services to the amazing staff and pupils Valley View Community Primary School New Bewerley Community School...

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Meet the NB Green Team

As leaders, we will:

Promote sustainability and recycling around school grounds.

Reduce food waste and gather ideas from peers about school dinners.

Be involved in events to promote sustainability.

The Green Team will be supported by Miss Milligan.

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They meet every four weeks to discuss their next survey question or the results from it and their intended action. The questions are generated through the Smart School Council website. There is one representative from each reception class and two representatives from Years 1 through to 6. Their role is to ensure everyone’s voice is heard and support the implementation of positive changes within our school.

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New Bewerley Community School on Instagram: "Our Sustainability Team attending the @leeds_council Climate Schools Eco-Conference. Fabulous ideas from Leeds schools, lots to think about and lots of changes coming to NBCS! Watch this space 🌍🥰 #commit #collaborate #contribute"

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10 likes, 0 comments - newbewerley on April 3, 2025: "Our Sustainability Team attending the @leeds_council Climate Schools Eco-Conference. Fabulous ideas from Leeds schools, lots to think about and lots of changes coming to NBCS! Watch this space 🌍🥰 #commit #collaborate #contribute". 

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View this post on Instagram

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New Bewerley Community School on Instagram: "🏆Guess what?... We WON an award for our curriculum at the Global Learning Awards. 🏆

These are for the developments in our curriculum and our Carbon Reduction Actions that we have taken.

We are very proud of the curriculum we have built and continue to develop. 

#commit #celebrate #collaborate #create #contribute"

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5 likes, 0 comments - newbewerley on July 18, 2025: "🏆Guess what?... We WON an award for our curriculum at the Global Learning Awards. 🏆

These are for the developments in our curriculum and our Carbon Reduction Actions that we have taken.

We are very proud of the curriculum we have built and continue to develop. 

#commit #celebrate #collaborate #create #contribute". 

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View this post on Instagram

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With the help of the whole school, we calculated our school's carbon footprint. It has risen by 1% from last year and 'food' has gone from green to amber which is a shame. It may have been that we looked at a particular week on the school menu that had a lot of high carbon foods. The amount of CO2 produced through travel and energy have gone down since last year, which is good news as we have focussed on reducing our energy consumption over the past year.

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Global Gang have been collecting in old pens and highlighters ans have started creating art work with them.

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Looking forward to seeing what other school are doing and bring ideas back to our Eco council.

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In our recent visit from the Energy Heroes we made a full audit of the school, and set a target of reducing our energy consumption by 3% by switching off energy consuming devices when they aren't needed.

We now have a team from the eco-council who check on classrooms every week to make sure we aren't using unnecessary devices and wasting excess energy. We've called it Switch It Off!

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Curious Climate Questions answered for British Science Week!

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Curious Climate Questions answered for British Science Week!

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For British Science Week in March 2026, the lovely scientists from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (partly based out of the University of Leeds) answered Curious Climate Questions from Leeds schools. Ranging from 'What are the most important ways we can clean the earth?' (from Malang, Alilshan, Aleks and Syed (Year 5) to 'If we stopped polluting, how long would it take the Earth to recover?' (Aiden and Oliver age 9). Have a look at all the Questions and Answers here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uUOJEJX-zHAudHmPsRFJkSph6QrIAf0y

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This week, our Eco Council did a site survey with our caretaker, looking at doors and windows and ensuring they open and close correctly. We now have a plan to draught-proof areas around old or ill-fitting doors and windows to prevent energy and heat loss.

We also reviewed our gas bills after changing our boiler settings, and we have saved more than a month's worth of gas since September!

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Last week, we held a 'Get Creative for climate justice' exhibition in the school hall and invited families and friends in to view the work. Every child in school made some artwork to reflect the injustice surrounding climate change.

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At Whingate we have launched our first ever Climate Action Route Map. Our eco-council of 20 children have worked hard to start meeting our objectives. We have set a target of a 2% energy reduction through our 'Switch it Off' campaign. All the children are making sure that all electrical devices are switched off when they are not being used. We have also opened a woodland area with an outdoor assembly and ribbon cutting done by our gardener and eco-councilors.

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Climate Change and Sustainability Webpage

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Climate Change and Sustainability Webpage

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At Burley St Matthias we have just finalised our Sustainability Plan, and this week we are voting in our Eco-Council to represent classes across school. We have lots of exciting plans underway, and today will be joining the Live Assembly from Picture News at Cop30. Our new Webpage is also live at https://www.burleystmatthias.co.uk/page/climate-change-and-sustainability/162439

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Burley St Matthias Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School: Climate Change and Sustainability

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Pupils at Whingate spreading the Climate Joy with positive news including their very own climate joy story from their playground.

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St Matthew's Video for COP30 Live Lesson

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St Matthew's Video for COP30 Live Lesson

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Global Gang and the Eco Warriors made a video with Mr Barlow for the COP30 Live Lesson to show everyone what they've been up to.

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Sonny in Y6 made a fab video for the COP30 Live Lesson!

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A little snapshot of what Beechwood has been up to recently!

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Leeds Climate Joy Network co-hosted from Leeds and Brazil for COP30 with Picture News which 1200 schools nationwide joined in with! You can see it here:

https://www.youtube.com/live/bwf3apEdbio?si=VxipAhVZRZMKDl7b

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What Would You Tell World Leaders? Live COP30 Webinar from Brazil! | Picture News Event

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World leaders are meeting in Brazil to help save our planet - what would you like to tell them? Join us, alongside special guest Jenny Cooper live from Brazil to discover what COP30 is all about, why climate action is important, and how your ideas can help shape the future. Get ready to think big and ask questions!
Suitable for: KS1, KS2 & KS3 classes.
Hosted by: Picture News, Leeds Climate Joy Network and Global Learning Leeds.

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This padlet is hosted by Global Learning Leeds www.globallearningleeds.org.uk for the Leeds Climate Joy teachers network for schools to share ideas and good practice in climate education across Leeds. You are warmly invited to add your own school, wherever you are up to on your sustainability journey. Contact sarah@leedsdec.org.uk for further details.

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This is our latest carbon footprint, calculated this year. We carried out travel surveys, picked apart the school lunch menu and calculated how much we spent on energy and purchasing with the help of the whole school.

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St Matthew's CE Primary School Carbon Footprint Poster (1)

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We deliver the zero carbon schools programme in Year 5 throughout the year. The programme is split into four different areas - explore, investigate, act and inspire. By the end of the year, the children look at our school's carbon footprint and, in groups, choose a small project they can implement in school to help to further reduce our carbon footprint.

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Take your first step
towards becoming a
zero carbon school

Green Schools Project is on a mission to change the way schools respond to the climate and nature crisis.

Eco anxiety is on the rise. Young people feel increasingly powerless and worried about their future. Teachers want to do more to include the climate emergency in lessons but often don't have the knowledge, confidence, or time they need to do it justice. We enable schools to embed climate education into lessons and become more sustainable through a range of training, support, and resources. This gives teachers and young people the tools they need to tackle the climate crisis at school, in their communities and throughout their lives.

This is the defining issue of our time, and our young people will have to deal with the worst of the consequences. We need to act now to help schools get serious about sustainability, and give young people hope for a greener future.

Our pupils didn't fully understand what was happening with climate change. Now that they understand and they know what the issues are, they've been much more conscientious about the environment.

Jessica Todd Selwyn Primary School

We are delighted with the support from Green Schools Project and feel that the Zero Carbon Schools programme is enabling us to make better choices as a whole school to mitigate the impact of our carbon emissions. Thank you for your dedication and support!

Leigh Milkmanavicius Walsall Academy

Green Schools Project has been phenomenal in working with us to transform our whole school community's understanding of climate change and the part we can all play in making a difference.

Heather Stokes Headteacher, Eslington Primary School, Newcastle

Featured on ITV LONDON NEWS

Our impact

138 schools worked with since 2015

21 schools supported to calculate an estimate of their total carbon emissions for the first time

25% increase in score on climate change knowledge quiz from pupils taking part in Zero Carbon Schools

100% of teachers wanted to help their school to address the climate crisis after our teacher training sessions

91% of teachers felt better equipped to address the climate crisis after our teacher training sessions

83% of teachers felt that we had helped their pupils become environmental changemakers

supported by

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Take your first steptowards becoming a zero carbon school Green Schools Project is on a mission to change the way schools respond to the climate and nature crisis. Eco anxiety is on the rise. Young people feel increasingly powerless and worried about their future.

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We have two 'eco warriors' in each class from Year 1 to 6 who meet with me once a week to discuss the weekly challenge from the Young Climate Warriors website. The children then present the challenge to their class. All children have the opportunity to sign up with their family at home, complete the challenges and earn certificates and badges. We currently have over 50 children who have signed up and will soon be presenting the latest batch of certificates!

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Young Climate Warriors | Climate Change for Children | Cut Carbon |

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Climate Change activities for children. Climate Change teaching resources. Empower and engage children to respond to climate change. Harness the power of collective action by all undertaking the same challenges in the same week.

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Our Eco Council have acted on some issues raised in that first meeting, as well as using the Rethink Food, Agents Of Change materials to consider wider issues. Each Key Stage 2 class is represented, fostering a mini Eco Expert in each room to promote environmental awareness.

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Energy Heroes collaborated with Year 5 on energy consumption, incorporating a mathematics link to enhance understanding. Their second visit initiated our Eco Council, empowering the group to take ownership of essential actions within the school. The session effectively utilised data collected to inform decision-making and foster environmental responsibility.

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With support from Adam at Leeds DEC, staff have developed a much broader understanding of how to apply the objectives in the framework, and they now benefit from a wealth of supportive materials and example lesson ideas.

In light of this, several new literacy, science and geography units have been devised, utilising the climate curriculum as a central theme. These units thoughtfully consider critical issues such as flooding and the impacts of climate change on polar regions.

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The children at Grimes Dyke love to point out the fact that there is no such thing as a seagull to anyone who makes this mistake. (There are many different types of gulls but none of them are individually called seagull!)

We feed the children's natural curiosity about the natural world with facts and information about the things they will see and the changing of the seasons. The result is not only amazing knowledge but a desire to protect the natural world. They love testing the adults out and then wowing them with facts!

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Involving children in future proofing the school. 

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Involving children in future proofing the school. 

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This activity from Learning through Landscapes is an excellent tool to start the conversations about the impact of climate change on the school building.

https://ltl.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/how-hot-outdoor-lesson-idea-ltl.pdf

How can we reduce the heat in classrooms in the summer months? What actions can we take to mitigate the impact of increased temperatures?

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The Yorkshire Rewilding Network is a charity which aims to bring together anyone in the region who has an interest in rewilding — to inspire one-another, share knowledge and experience, and work towards a brighter, more sustainable future for all inhabitants… be they creatures great or small. They have a wealth of knowledgeable people who will advise on rewilding and its benefits for the environment.

They can be found here https://www.yorkshirerewildingnetwork.org.uk/

The Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077713026022

They also have a useful list of books for children on their website - https://www.yorkshirerewildingnetwork.org.uk/books-for-children/

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There are many more, but these websites are a good place to start for engaging outdoor learning activities linked to climate and biodiversity.

https://www.educationnaturepark.org.uk/

https://treecouncil.org.uk/young-learning/

https://ltl.org.uk/primary/#lesson-ideas

https://www.rspb.org.uk/helping-nature/what-we-do/education-and-inspiring-the-next-generation#support-for-teachers-and-schools

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/support-us/act/your-school/resources/

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Our children learn about nature and learn in nature.

It is crucial that children experience both of these things. We are careful to define what constitutes outdoor learning; taking your reading book outside on a sunny day or doing observational drawing with a clipboard under a tree is not outdoor learning! This is inside learning taken outdoors.

If children are to experience true outdoor learning this has to incorporate the environment into the teaching. This could be the resources it offers or direct learning about biodiversity.

There is rarely a place for staring at a PowerPoint presentation about the life cycle of a frog when it's happening in real life outside in the school pond!

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We are huge advocates on the positive health benefits of nature connectivity. We firmly believe that the children of Grimes Dyke are happy children because they spend so much time outdoors.

We appreciate how lucky we are to have the space we have at Team GD so it is right that we share this with our families. Last summer we held a family picnic and encouraged everyone to bring food and spend time in our school grounds as a family. So many of them commented on how calm they felt in the space.

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Please come along and see us at Team GD, you are welcome to come to the whole event or just pop in for an hour!

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We are opening our school grounds to any interested schools or organisations to see what we do at Grimes Dyke and the impact it has on children and the climate. This event was very successful last year but there is now so much more to see so please come along!

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Lee Call Photography - Grimes Dyke Tour 24 - 0061

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Pupil representatives from school recently address the Leeds Climate Emergency Advisory Committee (CEAC) to talk about our climate curriculum work in schools and how we manage our school grounds whilst rewilding. They invited local councillors and any schools in their ward to visit our school to see this in action.

Click this link to see the children in action at the meeting via Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvd7atgjie8 We start our presentation at 8.55 minutes in and finish around 15 minutes in.

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Our geography lead Clare Michie clare.michie@grimesdyke.leeds.sch.uk has worked alongside colleagues at Beechwood Primary School and Leeds DEC to develop a climate curriculum for school. This is interwoven into our school curriculum making links with geography, science and writing.

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It is our belief that if we teach the children about the positive work they can do to mitigate climate change, they also have to enjoy the space. We prioritise play through all year access to the whole of our school grounds but teach them that they are only custodians of the space. They share it with nature during the day and overnight when school is closed and also have to protect the space for future generations. We are a Platinum OPAL school for play - currently the only school in Leeds to hold this award!

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Image21 - Grimesdyke Picnic June 24- 0057

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We utilise many of the Education Nature Park resources and have a close relationship with the Natural History Museum. This is an exceptional climate resource for schools.

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If any shrubs or bushes are pruned, or if we have fallen branches all green waste remains on site. These are made into dead hedges around the school grounds to rot down and provide additional habitats in school.

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We use an app called iNaturalist to record sightings of all living things in the school grounds. This is a citizen science project and all entries are used in real scientific research, which the children love! The app is very user friendly and with a bit of training can be used independently by children. This app has enabled us to record a range of species in the school grounds over time so we can monitor if our decisions about the grounds are having a direct impact on biodiversity.

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There are many organisations who will provide free trees for schools including:

The Woodland Trust

The Tree Council

Trees for Schools

Royal Forestry Society

but these are often tiny whips which take a few years to establish. We therefore led a campaign to fundraise for larger more established trees offering people to offset their carbon footprint by donating money for trees, and even offered to get children to plant them in our school! We raised enough money for 18 larger established trees. We were also successful in gaining a grant from the Tree Council to buy more larger trees this winter.

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We have two trailcams in school and put these out in various locations around our school grounds. It is common to capture foxes in our school woods but we recently put our camera in a different location after finding a clear path into our school grounds and captured a badger. We now these regularly too.

The children are very aware of the biodiversity of our school grounds and know that we share them with nature. Knowing there are foxes and badgers on site makes them determined to pick up litter from the site and also remove any hazards the mammals might come across.

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You can find out more about our projects from this link to our Climate page.

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Southroyd Primary School - Climate Change Route Map

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School is developing it’s third Climate Action Route Map (CARM) which will be presented on this page.

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We run a very popular science and nature club for pupils in KS2. Many pupils have been coming for nearly three years! Topics are planned to be seasonal and focus on British nature and changes in the seasons so that children learn about things they will see either in the school grounds or around and about in Leeds. We rarely talk about polar bears but we do talk about hedgehogs which are also a threatened species.

As a result of science and nature club we have a group of children with outstanding knowledge of biodiversity in our school grounds.

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We would love you to explore our "TED style" climate talks from the Chatbooth project at Beckett's University.

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Southroyd Primary School - Climate Talks

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We are lucky to have almost 8 acres of school grounds which were previously large expanses of short grass, which children only had access to in the summer months. We now leave huge areas to grow longer and mark out areas with grass cutting allowing all year round access...in wellies! Twice as much carbon (3 tonnes per hectare/year) is locked in to meadows as in woodlands! (1.4 tonnes per hectare/year)

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Everything about Team GD is nature friendly! We are lucky to have huge grounds, but manage these carefully for the benefit of children, nature and to combat climate change. We encourage visitors to see what we do and how this can be replicated even in small spaces. Get in touch to find out more or look at our Facebook and X social media sites.

Headteacher - Louise Hill

louise.hill@grimesdyke.leeds.sch.uk (0113) 2941066

https://www.facebook.com/grimesdykeprimaryschool

https://x.com/GD_Primary

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We are champion tree planters at Grimes Dyke and hold the Woodland Trust Gold Award.

Over the past 5 years we have worked with the children to identify areas around school which need more trees. The decisions are made around where shade is needed or areas that are 'nature poor.' We plant at least 500 trees a year minimum. These range from small whips to create hedges for wildlife corridors to established large trees for instant impact and shade. All trees are native British trees.

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We've been rewilding our school site for over four years and have left huge sections of the school grounds to nature. This rewilds the site and our children too!

Children love to follow the paths or run and hide in the longer grass. We have seen a huge increase in biodiversity since starting the project and now boast a whole range of birds, butterflies, moths, insects and mammals.

We work closely with the Yorkshire Rewilding Network to ensure our approach to rewilding is the most beneficial to the climate and biodiversity gain. https://www.yorkshirerewildingnetwork.org.uk/

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Image21 - Grimesdyke Picnic June 24- 0122

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BYA have relaunched our school Eco-Committee!

The group is led by Miss McNevin (Geography teacher) and Mis Howarth (Science teacher). Our new committee have recently spent 3 days working together in an 'applied creativity lab' with https://www.weareive.org/

The students spent time getting to know each other, (especially those from different year groups), hearing from Climate Action experts, using Divergent and Convergent thinking to explore what could be done at Bishop Young and finally creating an action plan for the rest of the year.

The team have formed new friendships and are inspired to present to governors and other stakeholders about their ambitions for sustainability at Bishop Young!

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Please browse the posts from other schools and add your own exciting news and inspirational stories! Scroll right and Click 'Add section' to add a column for your school, then name it and drag so that it's in alphabetical order. Click + below your school's heading

You can use the search facility in the top right hand corner of the page so when you're adding a post from your school, please use keywords to make it easy for others to find.

Some suggested keywords:

curriculum

decarbonise

resilience

green careers

biodiversity

If you can, please include a contact so that other schools can be in touch to find out more about what you've done. This padlet is just for schools to share what they have done. For organisations, events, resources etc visit the Yorks and Humber Climate Ambassadors padlet

https://padlet.com/climateambassadors_yh/y-h-climate-ambassadors-programme-dgzyg9jxjx0bnm59

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The Leeds Climate Joy Network is for teachers and educators who are passionate about education that supports children and young people to make a positive contribution to their future on our shared planet.

Sometimes being that person in school can be lonely! We meet online / in person to share ideas, inspiration, good practice, resources, discuss how to overcome barriers and make the most out of opportunities. To find out more and join the group contact sarah@leedsdec.org.uk