SUSTAINABILITY


Climate Week takes place from March 12 to 18 and once


again includes the popular Climate Week Challenge. Keven Steele explains more


was launched in 2011 with the aim of creating a national occasion that renews our confidence and ambition to combat climate change and which empowers people to act. Climate Week is already Britain’s biggest


C


environmental campaign. Last year, more than half a million people attended around 3,000 events across the UK that showcased the positive solutions to climate change. These events ranged from tree-planting days to walk-to-school schemes, conferences, film screenings and sustainable fashion shows. As part of Climate Week, the Climate Week


Challenge is Britain’s biggest environmental competition with 145,000 people simultaneously working on the same task to come up with a solution to climate change. The challenge takes place on March 12 with schools


invited to take part. It is a team activity that comes in a one-day and one-hour version (the one-day version is run as a national competition). The exact challenge itself is kept a secret until 9am on the day of the competition. Teams of four to six people compete within age


categories. Different levels of sophistication are expected from the entries depending on the age range, but everyone from school children to business people will be given the same core challenge.


Independent thinking No ivory towers here


AS REGULAR readers will know, I am passionate about working with other schools and a long-standing champion of independent-state school partnerships. Unfortunately, too often the media lazily


stereotype all independent school pupils as “posh toffs” and state school pupils as “semi-literate would- be gangsters or benefit scroungers”. Neither of these caricatures is accurate but since when did truth and factual accuracy really matter to certain media? There are as many different types


of independent school as there are of state-maintained schools. Some are very small and specialise in teaching pupils with SEN and/or disabilities, some cater only for three to 11-year- olds or four to 13, four to 18 or 11 to 16. Some are academically selective, some are faith schools or schools set up by a particular organisation, some are boarding, day, or a mixture of the two. Some are single- sex and some are co-educational. A school like mine, with almost 1,100


pupils and set in an inner London borough is bound to be different from a small school in a country town or a boarding school miles away from any major settlement. Yet politicians and the media seem to speak of us as if we were all the same, and too often schools such as Eton or Harrow stand proxy for the entire independent sector, albeit that many smaller (and even larger) independent schools are much less well endowed and resourced. School type is used as a proxy for


social class, wealth and privilege, although categorising young people in this way can of itself create a wider division between them. Which one do you consider to be the more


disadvantaged and the more worthy of “special consideration” for a university place: a young refugee from a war-torn country living in social housing with what remains of their family, but receiving a 100 per cent funded place at an independent day school, or a top politician’s child who attends a fairly socially exclusive state school and has received regular private tuition from highly qualified tutors?


Your answer probably depends on your politics


but there is no simple answer. Independent schools are rarely given the opportunity to publicise the fact that they may be engines of social mobility, instead they are seen as the enemies of social mobility. Such negative publicity can make it harder to


engage in genuine partnerships, but rest assured such partnerships are flourishing all over the country. Our Southwark Schools Learning Partnership (eight maintained, three independent) is focusing on information, advice and guidance this year – as the careers and higher education guidance services for young people are being reorganised nationally, it seemed sensible. In addition, we will all invite students from all 11 schools to at least one specialist higher education


or careers lecture. Music can also bring people of all


ages and backgrounds together. I met with the person running the London mayor’s new scholarship fund for young musicians recently. The aim is to provide instruments and music tuition and a chance to play regularly in a band or orchestra for 1,000 children aged seven to 11 years from


underprivileged backgrounds. Some independent schools, like ours, and indeed state secondaries, do run Saturday music schools for the local


community and also have music teaching and orchestra and band practices running before and after school. It is an easy thing to get involved in a scheme like this, but it could make a huge


difference to the children who take part and to those who play alongside them. We are always open to new ideas and it would


be nice not to be regarded as if we lived in an “ivory tower” and incapable of mixing in the real world without compulsion.


• Marion Gibbs is headmistress of the independent James Allen’s Girls’ School in London. Independent thinking returns after half-term.


NASUWT The Teachers’ Union SecEd • February 9 2012 7


For more details go to www.nasuwt.org.uk/paralympicpost


LIMATE WEEKruns this year from March 12 to 18. Participation is completely free and schools across the country are being encouraged to run any kind of event or celebration. This year is only the second annual Climate Week. The initiative


Climate Week For teachers, the challenge is a fun and effective


way of raising awareness of environmental issues in the classroom, while also developing team-working and problem-solving skills. Teams have five hours to complete the one-day


challenge, and one entry from each school or workplace is submitted into the national competition. The shortlist for each age category will then be sent to a judging panel, which will include Kate Humble, presenter of the BBC’s Springwatch, and Cath Senior, head of understanding climate change at the Met Office. Meanwhile, if your time is more limited, the one-


hour version of the challenge can be completed at any point during Climate Week. Schools can get involved for free by registering their


entry on the Climate Week website and any number of teams can take part with no preparation required. By taking on the challenge, pupils are able to


engage with environmental issues and solutions in an interesting and exciting situation, focusing on the positive ways they can take action on climate issues.


The challenge in particular demonstrates that tackling climate change is inclusive and full of opportunities. Last year, 145,000 adults and children took part in


the challenge, with around half participating in the one- day national competition. The challenge was to come up with a green idea to save or make money and was entitled “Save the planet, save the pound”. Entries were inspiring and innovative and it was


great to see how eagerly pupils had engaged in the brief. The winners from the 11 to 14 age category produced a pioneering children’s toy that turns children’s kinetic energy from their fidgeting into electricity. This electricity can then be used to recharge personal gadgets, such as iPod’s or mobile phones – perfect for the young teenager always on the move. The designers of the “Fidgit”, from Pool Business


and Enterprise College, were able to see their final creation turned into a prototype at the Arcola Energy Laboratory in London. Under the guidance of engineer and educator, Matt Venn, the students produced their very own working


Fidgit – it only took a couple of minutes of fidgeting to start filling up the batteries on their mobile phones. By drawing on their own experiences, young people recognised potential and applied it to a positive and viable solution. We need the next generation to be involved in action


on climate change as they are the ones who will bear the brunt of its impact. The ideas these young people came up with show that they already have the drive and the innovation necessary to make a difference. We can afford to be optimistic about the future but


we need to accelerate change and the challenge is a fun way of inspiring people with real possibilities for solutions.


SecEd


• Kevin Steele is founder and chief executive of Climate Week.


Further information


Registration for the Climate Week Challenge 2012 is now open. Visit www.climateweek.com/challenge


Writing Competition


An exciting opportunity for your school to support budding young journalists to join a team of international students reporting from the London 2012 Paralympic Games


Girl power: Students from Pool Business and Enterprise College see their idea for a power- generating 'fidget' turned into reality after winning the Climate Week Challenge in 2011


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