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Schools across Leicester recently gathered for the Leicester Schools Sustainability Summit – an annual event run by Leicester City Council as an opportunity for primary schools across the region to showcase their eco schools projects.

This year, the Sustainability Summit was held in collaboration with Good Life Schools, as an chance to celebrate and present the fantastic work which has taken place across secondary schools in Leicester as a result of the programme.

Good Life Schools is a National Lottery-funded student-led, project based learning opportunity for schools, which gives young people aged 11-18 the opportunity to explore the impact of our consumer-driven, digital society and take meaningful action for change.

In its first year of running, Good Life Schools has taken place across three secondary schools in Leicester – Sir Jonathan North Girls’ College, Lancaster Academy and Ellesmere College, and we were fortunate enough to have Sir Jonathan North and Ellesmere College join the Leicester Good Life Schools regional celebration.

The event took place at Leicester City Hall, where students displayed the projects they had been working on across the year.  

Students at Ellesmere College displayed how Good Life Schools has allowed them to investigate food waste. The funding provided by Good Life Schools enabled students to invest in smoothie bikes – a stationary bike which uses the pedalling motion to power a blender attached to the bike. Students took in turns to show other students, teachers, staff and judges how they have been able to use seemingly inedible fruit such as overripe bananas and turn them into a healthy smoothie as a way of reducing food waste.

Students at Sir Jonathan North Girls’ College also got creative, and through their Good Life Schools journey, they have been raising awareness of the pressures put on young people through the cosmetic industry, as well as the often-harmful chemicals found in beauty products. This niche topic created some incredibly thought-provoking discussions with attendees, and it was clear students had tapped into a subject which is often not widely discussed.

Throughout the morning, a group of judges visited each stall to find out more about each of the school’s projects. Along with the Good Life Schools groups, there were many initiatives being run by primary schools which ranged from building an allotment in their school grounds, to students investigating Fair Trade and raising funds for wildlife conservation charities.

It was so inspiring to see so many young people with so much energy and passion for the environmental and sustainability causes which their schools chose to focus on throughout the year. The students were incredibly confident when asked questions about their projects and it was clear that a lot of thought had gone into every idea. The atmosphere in the room was incredibly high, with judges commenting on how brilliant each and every stall was.

After lunch, Claire Arnott, Head of Good Life Schools, provided a key note speech, where she asked students to imagine that an alien had landed on planet earth, and asked them what it means to live a good life. Students were keen to answer, with spending time with family and friends and taking care of the planet amongst popular answers. Claire’s speech was an opportunity for students to reflect and get critical on whether prioritising the latest ‘goods’ was really the key to living a good life, and whether happiness can in fact be found through living a life which prioritises taking care of others and the planet.

Following this, the winners of the judging were announced, with Sir Jonathan North being awarded the Judges Special Award, and all schools receiving a celebratory certificate for their projects. It was particularly special to see how much these awards and their participation in Good Life Schools meant to them, with one student saying, ‘it was a dream come true.’

The Leicester regional celebration event was an inspiring day, showcasing how when young people come together, unite in compassion and prioritise wellbeing, they are able to create incredible change which ripples out beyond the school gates and into the wider community.

We would like to send our special thanks to Leicester City Council for their collaboration on this event, as well as all schools who took part in the regional celebration, and both Central England Co-operative and Twycross Zoo for so kindly sponsoring the school prizes.

If you are a school or community organisation in Leicester interested in finding out more about Good Life Schools, contact Sian Buckley at [email protected]