We received some really encouraging news today that following Naomi’s talk at the National Youth Climate Summit, her school have decided to take action! Ullswater Community College's English department are planning to add a topic for years 7, 8 and 9 that deals specifically with the environment, with the aim of getting students to research, persuade, campaign and use their non-fiction reading skills to help raise more awareness of the environmental issues we all face. In addition, Naomi’s Head of Year is fully supportive of the idea and is planning on talking to senior leadership at the school to get other departments to follow suit.

Naomi Frost, 15, is helping to lead local campaign work both at Ullswater Community College, her school in Penrith, Cumbria, and in the wider community. As a secondary student, Naomi is using her passion for environmentalism to compel her teachers and fellow students to join the cause in practical ways.

During the National Youth Climate Summit, Naomi emphasised the importance of secondary school activism, recognising that secondary students are not far away from taking on important roles in society and therefore making the decisions on how we all live on this planet. She believes that environmentalism needs to be a mainstream pursuit and therefore asks for schools to give students more opportunities to express themselves and to challenge what they feel is unjust.

Naomi speaks of the importance of establishing and empowering an eco-council at schools to lead the way in order to send a clear message to the rest of the student body that environmentalism is not “a passing fad” and that it is perfectly acceptable to care about the future of our planet.

Ullswater Community Council founded their eco-council in September 2018. Some of their successes include organising a school demonstration and mini-festival, sending representatives to the Cumbria Youth Climate Summit 2019, promoting the reuse and recycling of waste, a fundraising £1200 for Friends Of The Earth through a drone-filmed ‘No Planet B’ demonstration.

Naomi’s message to secondary schools is as follows:

“Please listen to your students, then, please give them the opportunities to use their freedom of speech, their knowledge of how democracy works, and make sure their voices are truly heard and listened to by those with the power to protect our planet, our future”.

Were you also inspired by Naomi’s speech? Could changes be made at your school to integrate more environmental awareness into learning?

Watch Naomi’s speech here.

“Young people did not create the climate crisis but, now that we know about it, we are assuming the responsibility to stop it”

Naomi Frost, 15, Ullswater Community College