Sustainable schools: the missing link and a little inspiration

For all the work that's been put in to promoting sustainability in our schools, are we missing a trick?

I spent yesterday afternoon at the East of England Low Carbon Schools Conference in Southend.

I’ve long held an interest in sustainability and schools. A few years back, I led a project for the Department for Education and the Sustainable Development Commission to develop a carbon management strategy for the schools estate in England. After that, I had the opportunity to put some of my theorising into practice on a couple of Carbon Trust programmes, looking at how local authorities engage schools in an area, how schools speak about sustainability, and how to influence behavioural changes to unlock energy and water savings. Since then, I’ve helped develop a carbon footprinting toolkit for schools and am an adviser to the CREST project, working with schools in Southend.

Which brings me back to yesterday.

Every time I go to a schools event, I am delighted by the creativity, enthusiasm and passion that people show for sustainability. Yesterday was no exception. We heard from Alex Green at Less CO2 about the support they offer to schools through the Ashden Awards. We heard from Amy Cameron of Solar Schools, who talked about galvanising communities to crowdfund solar PV for school roofs. We heard from Sheryl French of Cambridgeshire County Council and Colin James of West Sussex County Council about their work looking across school estates and planning interventions at scale. And we heard from Ann Finlayson of SE-ED about the opportunities for transformative education by going beyond traditional chalk and talk / assemblies and providing genuine opportunities for children to shape their own learning.

(Other great speakers took part too; apologies for omitting you in the interests of space…)

Something that struck home, however, was that in many cases, these different strands – finance, technology, aggregation, education, engagement – exist in isolation from each other (or at best, projects combine one or two of these). Perhaps what’s missing is the truly multi-disciplinary approach to sustainable schools which combines the best of all of these in a single offer to schools. Let’s get the engineers talking to the teachers. Let’s get the campaigners talking to the investors. Let’s get local government talking to schoolchildren. Somewhere in amongst these conversations is an opportunity to create something that is coherent, consistent and beneficial in educational, financial and environmental outcomes.

Another thing which really made an impact: the sheer passion and joy of schools that take part in sustainability initiatives. I could try to describe but it’s better from the schools themselves. So here is possibly the finest film I have ever seen, made by Hollybush School in Derry. Inspiration guaranteed!