Eco-Schools England is working with OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA), one of the leading awarding bodies in the UK, to form a new, youth-led National Eco-Committee. The initiative aims to identify the green themes young people want to investigate and explore in their education.
Eco-Schools England believes the current national curriculum needs to be ‘greener’ to ensure widespread awareness of sustainability across the entire education system and all subject areas; both academic and vocational.
The new National Eco-Committee will comprise a diverse group of 25 young people aged 10-18 years. The founding Honorary Member is Jessie Stevens, a 16-year-old Youth Climate Activist based in South Devon. Stevens will help inspire other young people in England to apply to be part of the National Eco-Committee.
She is also cycling over 520 miles in 10 days to Glasgow for COP26. Her People Pedal Power mission aims to raise awareness of the need for a greener, more accessible transport infrastructure as well as greater levels of youth-led decision making.
Plans for the National Eco-Committee
Between December 2021 and July 2022, Jessie Stevens and the 25 National Eco-Committee members will meet online with Eco-Schools manager Lee Wray-Davies, OCR staff, plus special guests, to complete the following tasks:
- Embed green themes across all existing OCR qualifications and help non-specialist educators to deliver these.
- Create national eco-prizes for different OCR curriculum areas.
- Plan and run an online Green Careers week in April 2022.
- Create an eco-themed moving up day teacher resource.
Children’s author and environmental activist Georgina Stevens will be supporting the National Eco-Committee with Task 4; creating a moving up day teacher resource based on the content of her book, Climate Action.
On Sunday 5 September at 13.00, to celebrate both International Day of Charity and the start of the new school year, Eco-Schools England we will be adding a new National Eco-Committee Eco-Project section to its website. This will include further information about the Committee as well as the application form to apply to become a member.
The deadline for applications is Saturday 20 November 2021 on World Children’s Day. The Eco-Schools team will then contact the successful 25 applicants the week commencing 29 November 2021.
For further information, please click here.
