The Climate Action Plan (CAP) project started following the release of the Department for Education’s Sustainability and Climate Change strategy, announcing that all schools in England need to have a CAP in place by 2025. SOS-UK is able to offer the amazing opportunity of support for schools and students in the initial creation of their CAP. The creation of CAP templates will provide support and guidance for other schools nationwide. This is part of the wider SOS-UK Green Schools Revolution programme, focused on improving the quality of climate education and green opportunities in schools.
Since our initial article in July, the CAPs project team has grown, warmly welcoming three more student staff members: Lucy, Molly and I. Together with Amber, Cory and Talia, we bring a wide range of diverse experiences, allowing us to uniquely support schools in creating their CAPs.
I spoke to my fellow newcomer CAP coordinators to hear their thoughts on joining the team, the role and the CAPs project:
Hi, I am Molly and I am so excited to start in the Climate Action Coordinator Role. I really would like to shift the general feelings of hopelessness and fear around to climate change and instead foster an environment of care and reciprocity with the natural environment and with each other, so that everyone feels empowered to contribute as they wish. I look forward to supporting students in forming the education scheme that would suit them best. Climate education is a multigenerational vehicle to implement long term cultural change and I am delighted to be a small part of that.
Excitingly, on Thursday 14th of September the CAPs project team of core and student staff had an in-person team meeting in London. This involved important discussions on the initial meetings with the student groups and ideas for effectively communicating climate change. Also, as this was the first in-person meeting of the whole CAPs project team, it was a lovely opportunity to meet everyone and engage in organic conversations, which will help with teambuilding and communication online.
What are we up to now?
This is a really exciting time for the CAPs project; with the new school year just kicking off, we have been busy planning, creating resources to support schools, and welcoming new team members.
There has been a great response and interest across the UK for the support we offer and for getting involved in the project, with 66 schools currently registered interest – this is very encouraging. After successful onboarding meetings with our CAP coordinators and passionate school staff members, we look forward to starting to support our first 15 schools in the Autumn Term. This will involve continued contact with the school staff and governance, meeting an interested student group, and supporting them to create an assembly to explain the CAPs to the wider student community.
Meanwhile, the team will still be working on outreach in the six key locations and offering more schools the opportunity to be involved in the project and receive support to create their CAPs. Also, there is still ongoing work on creating the social media and communication materials. This is essential to increase the reach and involvement with the campaign.
The CAPs project will provide essential individual support for initial schools to create their CAPs, and the creation of adaptable CAP templates will provide guidance for many more schools in the long term. In addition, I think the effect of the project by involving and empowering students in sustainability cannot be understated, allowing for the further embedment of environmental issues in schools in the UK. Overall, we are all very excited to be working together on this important project and look forward to what the next six months will bring.
If you'd like to find out more about our CAPs project visit our Green Schools Revolution webpage where you can sign up to take part and receive resources. Alternatively, email our team: caps@sos-uk.org.