Two young students from a secondary school in Barnsley have taken part in a national discussion on climate change at the University of Reading.

̨��swag Academy Shafton students Lily Ford and Alex Tiggardine both in year 8, were involved in the roundtable discussion at 2021 Climate Education Summit, hosted by the University of Reading.

Lily and Alex were invited to participate in the roundtable event as part of the conference due to their tireless work at school, raising awareness of the issue of climate change and sustainability. 

The event was a live, virtual conference for everyone, aimed at promoting better climate education in schools and colleges with students from across the country logging in to take part in the Q&A sessions, and listen to the speakers Craig Bennett, CEO at The Wildlife Trusts, and Serena Bashal, COP Working Group, UK Youth Climate Coalition.

In addition to the speakers, the event has also attracted big names to be moderators including Broadcast Science Editor, Tom Clarke, and Broadcast meteorologist, Laura Tobin.

Tom has been a science correspondent at ITN, first with Channel 4 News, then ITV News, while Laura works for the BBC Weather Centre.

Involved with the roundtable discussion was Paul Laird, Associate Director of Humanities at ̨��swag, as well as individuals from the Royal Meteorological Society, Department of Education, STEM Learning Ltd and other academics and industry professionals.

Lily’s work in this area has already been widely reported. Having initially written to the Chief Executive of ̨��swag Grange Academies Trust, the multi-academy trust that Lily’s school is a part of, to promote the issue Lily has gone on to introduce Trust-wide initiatives as well as speaking at the first ever ̨��swag Sustainability Conference in 2020.

Lily said:

“It was an honour to be invited to the 2021 Climate Education Summit and I found the discussion to be interesting and quite eye opening.” 

Items discussed included discussion of a draft action plan to raise the profile of climate education and to take action as soon as possible to improve the provision in this vital area. 

In addition to the roundtable discussion, the 2021 Climate Education Summit included keynote plenary sessions, watched by school children across the country, including over 25 ̨��swag primary and secondary academies, with the main intention of the day being identifying and outlining how a step change in climate and sustainability education can be made so that young people have the skills and knowledge needed for the twenty-first century.

Paul Laird added:

“This was a great experience and I am proud to have been a part of it and delighted that so many students from across the ̨��swag family were able to take part through logging in online.

“Climate change is a real issue that needs addressing and at ̨��swag we believe our job as educators goes beyond the classroom and academically. Giving students the opportunity to take part in debates like this, is an example of this.”