Our Climate Action Plans (CAPs) project is now in full swing and being driven by our fantastic team of five student staff coordinators: Amber, Talia, Molly, Gemma and Lucy. We are growing our team and on the lookout for another CAPs coordinator – could you (or someone you know) be perfect to join our team?

What does a CAPs coordinator do?

The great thing about the job is that it is really varied – no week looks the same! As it is designed to be a development position, our coordinators can also shape their role to foster new skills and experiences depending on their interests. Here’s a snapshot of the types of things our coordinators have been working on so far…

Working with schools

A big part of the job is working closely with schools and delivering both virtual and in-person meetings and workshops. All of our coordinators have assigned schools that they work closely with throughout their CAPs journey. This begins right at the start with having initial meetings to get to know the school and identify adaptations before planning the project timeline. Next, is raising awareness about the project with the students and getting them enthusiastic with assemblies and initial group meetings.

Once a core student group is established the CAPs coordinator works closely with these students through support meetings and workshops. These help students build the knowledge, skills and experience to lead on their school CAP. It is incredibly rewarding to facilitate the students’ journey and help empower them to take the lead on climate action in their school.

Since January our coordinators have delivered: two assemblies, five initial student meetings and five workshops with many more being booked and planned over the next few months!

Developing Resources

All our CAPs resources have been developed by students, for students! The coordinators have taken the lead on developing all of our CAPs workshops – all adding their own unique take on it making them fun, informative and interactive. Not only this, but they have also been working hard to develop supporting resources and learning activities so that the students and schools are fully supported on their CAPs journey.

Communications

We advocate for learning and sharing! We want to shout about all the amazing work that has been happening so that others can learn from it too. Our coordinators get to be creative to create communication pieces sharing all about the progress of CAPs! This includes developing graphics for social media, newsletters, articles and presentations.

Collaborative working

To make real progress towards climate action we need to work with others. Our CAPs team meet regularly to share ideas and support each other. We also meet with other teams within SOS-UK to see how we can integrate all aspects of SOS-UK work and to ensure we have a collective voice. Not only this, but we also stay connected with other like-minded organisations in the sector to find collaboration opportunities and to ensure we can share all the great opportunities for young people and schools!

“The most rewarding part of this job for me is encouraging the growth of a new mindset around climate change in youth. Even in students that know a lot about the intricacies of climate change, often there is a lack of belief that we have any power to change anything. Helping students realise that their voice matters and helping them find their own personal source of motivation for environmental work is the most rewarding part of the job for me” Molly Scrase-Kings, CAPs Coordinator

“The CAPs project is very exciting, and I believe it will contribute significantly towards embedding comprehensive climate literacy into UK schools. We hope to empower students through our work, granting them agency over their immediate environment and with it, opportunity to secure a climate future in which they can thrive”, Talia Hardie CAPs Coordinator

“It’s been awesome to work with such a passionate and warm team. I have been enjoying the more creative parts, like getting involved in social media design and working on workshop slides. But, by far, the opportunity to interact with young people and share environmental knowledge has been my favourite part of the role.” Cory McCormack-Montequin, previous CAPs Coordinator

Interested in joining our CAPs team? Know someone who would be the perfect fit? Select here to find out more and apply for a CAPs coordinator role by Sunday 25th February.

If you have questions about the CAPs project, email caps@sos-uk.org.

How else can you get involved?

We are currently looking for more schools to take part in our CAPs project. If you’re a student, talk to your teacher or eco-group leader about CAPs. If you’re a teacher, you can apply here:

We also have further opportunities for students to lead the way to sustainability in their schools: we can help them to ‘teach’ their teachers! We provide students with free training, resources, and support so they can teach their teachers about climate change and how easy climate education can be. To find out more, visit https://www.teachtheteacher.uk/.

Our work does not just rely on the efforts of students and teachers within their schools – we are working with policy makers and leaders to show what climate education should look like. If you want to know more about our work on reviewing the national curriculum, we have an exciting launch event coming up on Tues 26th March 4pm. Find out more about the event here.

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