A lot of people will argue that one person can’t do much to genuinely help environmental matters but schoolchildren like Joanna Singleton, from St Christopher’s High School in Accrington, are proving them wrong. This week she was one of several youngsters who travelled to Westminster to educate MPs and other VIPs about what their schools are doing to tackle environmental issues and how Solar for Schools is helping champion solar energy.
“Visiting Westminster was brilliant. I really enjoyed looking around and it was cool to go in the House of Commons. It was great to have the opportunity to speak to people and, overall, the day went really well. It was great to spread the word to so many important people who can help to influence change going forwards.
I really care about our planet, nature and all of the animals in it. God gave this to us and we have to make sure we look after it. But people are causing a lot of damage with pollution and litter and it harms the planet and animals. If we mess it all up, we haven’t got another one so we really do have a duty to look after it.
A lot of people just don’t realise what issues there are, so we need to raise awareness that the planet is being destroyed, temperatures are rising, ice caps melting and much more. And we need to let people know about the changes that they can make to help.
One example is litter which can cause all kinds of problems for the environment and kill wildlife. Lots of schools have litter problems but if we can sort this within schools and then spread the word people can improve elsewhere and the benefits spread.
My sister Beth and I joined our school’s Eco Club in Year 7 and have taken part in lots of initiatives with outside organisations. Sonja, from Prospects, helps to run the eco club and is incredibly passionate about the topic. She has been a credit to the team and a joy to have around. Examples of our activities include planting trees outdoors and growing other things in the polytunnel as well as looking after the green spaces around school. We also have ‘eco fairies’ who check that teachers’ close windows, turn off heaters, computers, lights etc at the end of the day. If they have, we reward them with sweet treats which helps to spread awareness and good habits.
Trashion shows are a great way to reuse simple items - such as covid masks - to make sure that mass-produced things don’t go to waste as litter. The items are turned into pieces of clothing and the trashion shows bring a lot of entertainment and enjoyment to others. This is a fun way to stop littering and promote recycling. We are also reusing otherwise unwanted items in school such as old books, flipchart pad covers, PE mats, wooden pallets and more in our polytunnel and outdoor spaces.
In the past year, we have been involved with Solar for Schools who helped our school to get 726 solar panels fitted. Over 25 years these will save us over £2million. This is really impressive and is a big help with global warming as well as saving money for the school which can be better spent on resources for education.
When I first heard about Solar for Schools, I thought it was a really good idea. Myself, my sister and other eco members have visited four primary schools to spread the word and tell the children and teachers about how it works and what they can do to help their own schools. They have been really interested and asked lots of questions to find out more. It has also been interesting to find out what other schools are doing such as beekeeping.
When we go into the schools, we take the Solar Explorer Kit to demonstrate how solar panels work - this is really helpful for children and adults to understand how it all works. And it is good to have a look at and to help decide whether they want them or not. The Solar for Schools app is also really useful for children to learn about different eco issues and how they can help and make a difference. It explains everything simply in a really user-friendly way.
It was really exciting to be asked to take the Solar Explorer Kit and go to London and talk people through the scheme there. There were a few nerves before talking to the MPs but I was more excited about spreading the word and letting everyone know about what our school has done and how Solar for Schools helped.
It was so good to meet our local MP Sarah Smith who was nice and cheerful and seemed to really care about eco issues and what we are doing. It was really cool that she showed us around Westminster too!
Everyone else we met was really friendly and interested in what we had to say. They asked a lot of good questions and it was great to hear their own stories about what they are doing to help the environment too.
The icing on the cake was when the leader of the Green Party mentioned me and Sam, who demonstrated the kit with me, in his speech. It made us feel really appreciated when he thanked us.”
We'd like to thank the following for giving up their valuable time to help support our pupils:
Solar for Schools team for inviting the Eco Group to such a worthwhile event;
Dave Savage of Community Rail Lancashire for providing the train tickets to get there and TfL passes for the Tube too;
Sonja Bottomer from Prospects Foundation for her valuable and continued support;
and Sarah Smith MP for the tour of Westminster.