Schools Project 2004-6

Climate Change Action Programme

Introduction

This Programme has developed out of the Climate Change Roadshows which are illustrated on the main Local Projects page. However, we came to the conclusion that the greatest need is for education on the onset of climate change in primary schools, particularly as it is not included in the National Curriculum in the UK and therefore not given teaching time.

We first adapted the storyline for our Roadshows for use in the schools, and developed it into a Programme consisting of the Shows and Follow-on sessions with the same pupils a month or so later.

The Show consists of a visual high-energy, interactive story of Eco, a hyperactive young eco-warrior and Boyd, a lazy 10 year old. Together they travel the world in Eco's greenhouse saving tigers from floods and stopping Global Warming. The evil Gutman tries to put them off their mission. Finally, Boyd returns home a changed boy and they enlist the help of the audience in finding ways to "STOP! SAVE ENERGY!".

Directly after the show the pupils and teachers fill in an CLIMATE ACTION PLAN to SAVE ENERGY. We ask that regular 'Eco times' are set aside to review how the pupils are saving energy at home and at school and to do related work suggested in a teacher's pack. A month or so after the Show, Eco or Boyd return to see the work that the classes have been doing and to look at the ACTION PLANS and exchange fresh ideas at a FOLLOW-ON SESSION.

As a further development we have now added a Pre-meeting before the Shows. This is aimed to engage the support of the whole school community, without which the pupils' efforts to save energy can get lost. The school can also reduce its own energy bills, support the UK government's Sustainable Schools initiative, and include all staff and pupils in subscribing to become an Eco-School. The Pre--meeting is ideally held at a regular staff meeting, attended by as many of the staff as possible, including teachers for the classes participating in the shows, security and janitorial staff and a parent and governor.

If you are interested in the Programme for your school, please use the Contact Us facility at the foot of this page in order to to receive an outline of its aims and contents.

2005-2006 Programme

Thanks to continued funding from Lambeth Endowed Charities, our same team of actors rehearsed and presented a new Climate Change show to 25 classes in 12 workshops in six Lambeth primary schools - all within two weeks, in October 2005. In fact, all the workshops took place within four days! It took some very tight scheduling and prompted one of us to buy a fold-up bicycle ahead of this programme, in order to be able to travel in time from one school to the next.

From experience gained from our piloted workshops in 2004 (see below), the theatrical director decided to incorporate all the practical action, that pupils can take, into the storyline of the Show. He also reduced the cast from three to two actors, but both of them acting two characters - so as to free up his own time in future and make the financial resources go further. In addition, he produced some great teaching aids with which the class teachers could support the follow-up practical action that the pupils carry out. A total of 750 'certificates' were also given to the teachers upon which the pupils were invited to make pledges. The pupils clearly enjoyed the Shows hugely and participated with great enthusiasm, as you can see in a number of the photos that follow:

Follow-on sessions were held just over a month later, with the same class groups that attended the Shows - with minor variations which gave us some valuable feedback. They were conducted by one of the actors in order to find out how much the pupils recalled of the messages in the Show, how well they have got on with fulfilling their pledges (both in their class groups and at home), and the extent of their will to continue with these things. We also gathered in data on the pledges made and questionnaires from the class teachers.

The amount that the pupils remembered about climate change, global warming and how to save energy - was impressive throughout. They were proud of what they had learned and what differences they had been making in their lives. However, their eagerness to be counted by raising their hands in the follow-up meetings was at the expense of consistency, and the data we were able to collect on their pledges varied a lot from school to school and from class to class.

We received a further £1,500 grant from Ernest Cook Trust to be used for Shows in schools, but not in time to extend the above programme. One of the actors had to be in Paris for a year, and we could not train someone else to take his place within our budget as well as put on more Shows economically. We therefore obtained the agreement of the Trust to utilise their money to refine future Shows as a package to present to further schools, to hold a consultative meeting with the teachers we had already met, and produce an effective brochure.

Having attended the official launch, on 1 December, of DEFRA's Climate Challenge Fund to change public attitudes on climate change, we submitted an ambitious application in March 2006 to conduct a full two-year programme of our Shows in both South and North London, covering 216 schools and reaching a potential of 25,920 pupils. We were unfortunately not successful, but neither were any of the other organisations who submitted radical proposals.

First Programme in 2004

Four Climate Change workshop presentations in two Lambeth Primary Schools during the week of 20-24 September 2004 - with the help of funding support from Lambeth Endowed Charities.

These provided the perfect opportunity to adapt the format of the Roadshows for use in schools, with the same theatrical direction and actors. Presentations were made to to all the Juniors in two sessions on one day in both schools. At the start of all the presentations, the actors engaged the pupils in sharing experiences of extreme weather, before putting on the show that delighted them. We tried out two variations on the Certificates to make them appeal to the children and to help them engage their parents in supporting their pledges. Follow-up visits to the schools are being planned, in order to find out how the children fared with fulfilling their pledges.

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