How students' ideas are inspiring climate action plans in Newham

The image above shows a range of ideas for climate action generated by Newham primary school students at the ‘Speak Up! Student Council Conference’.  

The Department for Education (DfE) requires every school in England to create a climate action plan by the end of 2025. The student’s climate action ideas have been categorised according to three categories: these categories are known as pillars in the DfE sustainability and climate change strategy.  

The purpose of this visual is to highlight the importance of empowering students’ voices, and to show how their ideas align with DfE requirements for school climate action plans.

Click here to view the image in full size

Context:

On 14 January 2025, the UCL Climate Action Unit participated in the ‘Speak Up! Student Council Conference’ at Elmhurst Primary School in Newham.  The CAU has been collaborating with Newham since September 2024 to coordinate support for schools in the borough to develop climate action plans. 

The conference - organised by RE Matters, Newham’s Student Council Network and Newham Learning - invited students from 20+ primary schools to participate in activities encouraging them to use their voice to make change happen. The CAU and Newham Council jointly ran an activity to get students to think of a climate action project they would like to implement at their school. 

The Climate Ambassadors programme:

The UCL Climate Action Unit is the London Regional Hub for the national Climate Ambassadors programme: a DfE-funded initiative supporting schools to develop climate action plans by the end of 2025. 

Reflecting on the ideas generated by the students, Regional Hub Coordinator Lochlann Atack noted:   

““The fact that every student’s project idea can sit under one of the DfE’s pillars of sustainability highlights how running student engagement activities can directly help schools build their climate action plan.”

 For more information about the support available for schools in London, please visit our web page or email us at: climateambassadors_london@ucl.ac.uk