Bracknell and Wokingham College hosted Bracknell Forest Council’s Climate Conference on Tuesday 11 November.
School pupils from Brakenhale School, Edgbarrow School, Garth Hill College, Kennel Lane School, King’s Academy Binfield, King’s Academy Easthampstead Park, Sandhurst School and St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School visited the college on Church Road to take part in the one-day conference.
The event was organised by Bracknell Forest Council and delivered by Sustainability and Environmental Education (SEEd).
This was the third annual Bracknell Forest secondary schools’ climate change conference.
The conference aims to encourage and involve young people within the borough in understanding the overall impacts of a changing climate and generating ideas to take back into their schools to enable and support climate change related schemes.
Pupils took part in various round table discussions about different topics, including the environment and why it is important that young people’s voices are heard.
They watched presentations about Bracknell Forest Council’s climate change strategies, learnt about UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Changemaker programme by watching videos from young changemakers and other people who are making a difference for the environment in their communities.
Throughout the day, pupils had the opportunity to speak to representatives from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, Bracknell Forest Council Climate Change Team, Eco Rewards, Solar for Schools, Sustainability by Activate Learning and Bracknell Forest Community Climate Action.
Before lunch, pupils decided on different issues to concentrate on, including wasted water and deforestation. After lunch, pupils from different schools visited one or more of the tables to join in with the discussions about various chosen issues. Each group then chose two or three representatives to share their ideas about the different issues to everyone.
At the end of the day, each school shared what actions they are going to take to limit climate change and help the environment.
Akshitha, a year eight pupil from Edgbarrow School, said: “I enjoyed being part of a such an important event. It should be something that everyone should do, and everyone should be aware of in their day-to-day lives because sustainability will be our future if we bring it in.
“I enjoyed talking to other people from other schools and I like to hear what their school’s like and what sustainable things their school has and telling my school about it to bring it into our school life.
“We enjoyed contributing to sustainability, which is so important, and we would love to learn more and be involved.”
Allyce Greenshields, Geography Teacher and International Lead at King’s Academy Easthampstead Park, said: “The event has been really good for the children to give them opportunities to consider what their impact is, what influence they have and how important they are in ensuring that not only Bracknell Forest, but the world as a whole, can impact and influence change.
“I think the event will help them be more environmentally minded in the choices that they make going forward. The hope is that they come back to the school with renewed enthusiasm for ideas and thoughts of how they can contribute to their roles as eco warriors at our school to ensure that our school becomes more sustainable.”
Ann Finlayson, CEO of Sustainability and Environmental Education (SEEd), said: “The event has been fabulous. It’s always great working with young people. Their enthusiasm about the environment, they’re wanting to get involved and do something, and their willingness to participate today have been outstanding.
“This event has helped to young people to achieve living sustainably. It’s really important that we’ve had some great community collaborators. The students have been able to ask lots of questions of other schools, adults and the community collaborators.”
Councillor Mary Temperton, Leader of Bracknell Forest Council, said: “It was an immense pleasure of mine to support the Bracknell Forest Secondary Schools’ Climate Change Conference held today at Bracknell and Wokingham College.
“Seeing the levels of interest and enthusiasm from all the young people present for looking after our planet was truly inspiring.
“Thank you to Activate Learning for hosting us and enabling the event to pass so successfully.”
Find out more about how you can help to limit climate change by visiting Bracknell Forest Council’s Climate Change page on their website or contact their Climate Change Team via climate.change@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
