Young 'energy heroes' get involved in schools climate conference

Pupils from 25 schools throughout South Yorkshire took part in the conference which was opened by Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham Central, who sent a video message urging pupils to combat climate change by writing to their own MP.

Youth group Drama Kids performed an extract from a script they had devised called ‘Trash Planet’, calling for everyone, including governments, to rise to the challenge of finding climate solutions.

The Zines workshop – run by the National Education Nature Park – saw children making magazines about nature, using old publications to cut and paste, while an Energy Heroes workshop looked at the maths of our energy mix, working out that if the staff and pupils work together to turn off appliances when not needed and avoid overheating classrooms, bills can be cut by 10 per cent.

The children were also involved in composing a rap.

Led by professional musicians, each group came up with a verse, all put together to make a song.

One verse included the lyrics: 'Gas and coal are so mean / So is Biomass it seems / Make more wind and use the sun / Make our world a better one!'

A spokesperson for the conference said: “It was wonderful to see students' ideas being turned into a finished product in such a short time.

“They performed it to everybody, using bin lids to add to the percussion.”

Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust ran a Greenspace role play session, using Eldon Road Recreation Ground in Rotherham as a case study.

Each group was given a budget and had to choose how to spend it, on items such as tree planting, wildflower meadows, ponds, bird and bat boxes and litter picks.

Each school created an Action Plan to take back to their school leaders to make positive changes with priorities such as school meals, food growing, and active travel.

The event ended with the presentation of a 'Climate Hope' banner created during the day by community sewing group, Common Thread.