Today marked the third of Green School Revolution’s Shared Learning events, this time based at East Norfolk College in Great Yarmouth. Following two successful events in Plymouth, this event has grown beyond its predecessors in collaboration with Simon Fox, Deputy Principal of East Norfolk College, and additional funding from the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm to supplement our support from the #iwill Fund.

GSR’s Shared Learning events bring local schools together to talk collaboratively about their Wilding Schools, Climate Action Plans and Teach the Teacher projects, hear from experts in the environmental sector and learn about further local environmental campaigns and future career paths. This December, 70 students from 5 schools joined us at East Norfolk College to learn about climate action, climate justice, and campaigns that help address the issue, such as Teach the Teacher.

Some schools attending have already taken part in the Green Schools Revolution programme, but we also invited other local schools to join in the fun and learn from our pathfinder schools about how they can make a difference in the environmental crisis.

The day is centred around youth-led workshops run by SOS-UK's student staff and Norfolk Climate Action, with local special guests such as Great Yarmouth artist Rebecca Osborne as well as Cllrs James Bensly and Daniel Candon, Cabinet Members for Environment/Waste and Economic Development. This included a combination of workshops, talks and creative activities as well as a Sustainable Marketplace featuring local universities, charities and businesses.

Students gained teamworking skills, creative opportunities, and the knowledge and resources to take further sustainable action. We believe that many of the young people at this event and our previous Shared Learning events will go on to be influential climate leaders and it has been a privilege to empower them to do so.

We are looking forward to seeing how the event will transform the schools already working on GSR projects, and hope it will inspire more schools to create youth-led climate action plans, increase biodiversity on their grounds and integrate climate into their curriculum. This event stands as an excellent blueprint for future Shared Learning events which we hope to grow to an even greater size and scope for empowering youth climate action.

This event and the work of Green Schools Revolution would not be possible without the generosity of the #iwill Fund, a joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) which supports young people to access high quality social action opportunities.