Education settings

Your climate action planning journey begins here

Every education setting – nursery, school and college – are meant to have a climate action plan. Does your setting have one?

We can match a volunteer with your setting to help you begin or progress on your sustainability journey. Whether you are looking to develop your climate action plan, or for an expert to help you make a decision on a specific policy, process or purchase, we can help.

DBS-checked and trained volunteers can help you in-person at your setting or online, bringing a variety of experiences, skills and interests to provide free, bespoke support. It’s vital that your climate action plan is tailored to your setting and addresses the needs, concerns and priorities within your community.

Benefits of climate action planning and accessing support from volunteers

Climate action provides broad benefits that support the everyday priorities and needs of education settings, such as:

  • Wider local networks for resource sharing, peer modelling and networking between schools, local academic institutions and the local authority 
  • Teacher and sustainability lead workloads, where support from a volunteer Climate Ambassador enables the engagement of the wider school community, embedding processes and supporting collective action; 
  • Making curriculum content and teaching engaging, relevant and actionable for students; 
  • Supporting student and staff member wellbeing through green space development and opportunities to meaningfully engage with it; 
  • Safeguarding processes, such as extreme heat and flooding policies and mental health awareness relating to feelings of ecoanxiety; 
  • Boosting confidence in taking appropriate, setting-specific climate action and decision-making with key stakeholders; 
  • Parental engagement, where decision-making with parent stakeholders provides broader support for changes across the setting; 
  • We can match a volunteer with your setting to help you begin or progress on your sustainability journey. Whether you are looking to develop your climate action plan, or for an expert to help you make a decision on a specific policy, process or purchase, we can help.

“We looked at different safeguarding categories such as ‘Mental Health & Wellbeing’ and ‘Community Engagement’ and assessed against statements such as “We ensure that mental health support is available for students who have experienced climate-related disasters”. As well as inspiring confidence in what a climate-literate safeguarding policy looks like, this process has helped Drake to prioritise their next steps, one of them being to make small changes to their safeguarding policies such referencing climate emergency plans in the ‘Adaptation & Resilience’ section of their Climate Action Plan.”

Photograph of Kit Rackley
Kit Marie Rackley
University of East Anglia

“During Career Week, Year 7 and 8 children were keen to take part in the discussion about sustainable living. They were also interested in jobs they might consider for their future. This demonstrated the importance of their learning about biodiversity on the school grounds. They were also influenced by the recent CAP changes they witnessed within their educational setting.”

Anastasia Bengry
Climate Ambassador and Teacher at Windsor Park CofE Middle School in Staffordshire

“We are passionate about embedding sustainability into every part of school life, not only to meet national expectations but because we have a responsibility to our pupils and wider community. Each partnership has helped us build momentum, develop staff confidence and make real, practical progress on our climate journey. The Climate Ambassador programme has been invaluable in bringing expert support into school and helping us move forward at pace.”

Eden Boys’ Leadership Academy in Bradford
working with Climate Ambassadors from BTG Eddisons

Getting started

  1. Complete the initial interest form;
  2. Receive an email from your Regional Hub Manager and complete the registration steps, including signing up to the STEM Learning platform, and getting your setting profile completed if you haven’t already;
  3. Post an activity request on the platform and accept support from volunteers;
  4. Complete the activity and log it as finished on the STEM Learning platform. If you have any issues with accessing volunteers or would like further support, please contact your Regional Hub Manager.

Contact details

You can express your interest in receiving support from a volunteer Climate Ambassador here.

If you encounter any issues or have questions about climate action planning before you begin your journey, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at hello@climateambassadors.org.uk