News & Stories

Event title: Regional approaches to sustainability in schools: learning from challenges and opportunities in Northumberland

Date: 1st February 2024

Time: 6.30 - 7.30 pm

Registration: Click here to register for the event

Embedding climate change and sustainability education within, and across, schools is a huge challenge for many teachers and leadership teams. David Dixon will discuss how to lead a sustainable school and will introduce his toolkit for developing a whole school approach to sustainability. Meryl Batchelder will then share how Northumberland is taking the lead in education for sustainability with an innovative School Resource Pack which has been developed by the Climate Change Team at Northumberland County Council to work alongside the Ministry of Eco Education’s sustainable curriculum. The resource pack is supporting teachers to equip students with an understanding of local climate impacts and solutions.

This session will help you understand how to develop a sustainable school and create teaching resources relevant to your region. It will be useful for teachers, local authorities, and anyone interested in climate change and sustainability education.

David Dixon is the author of  'Leadership for Sustainability, Saving the Planet one school at a time'  During his 35 years in education, he has promoted the twin causes of environmental education and sustainability, which formed the central ethos of his schools. He is now a freelance education consultant, based in Northumberland, specialising in curriculum and leadership and helping individual schools and school groups to link sustainability with school improvement more generally. He has recently been working on a toolkit for developing a whole school approach to sustainability. 

Meryl Batchelder, a science teacher in Northumberland, initially contacted the Climate Change Team in Northumberland County Council  as she felt very alone at the chalkface pushing for environmental education and, although she had founded the Northumberland Schools Sustainability Network (NSSN), felt unsure how best to promote the network to other schools. The county Climate Change Team picked up the request and created a Climate and Sustainability School Resource Pack to help schools embed sustainability across the curriculum. Meryl will share some of the challenges, opportunities and successes she has experienced over the past year. 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER