Leading climate action through sustainable education
Dr Saba Lodhi, a science and chemistry teacher at Halcyon London International School, explains how a holistic approach to climate action is embedded within the fabric of the school.
Climate anxiety is on the rise; surveys of young people in secondary education in the UK show one in three students has climate anxiety (Woodland Trust). Alarmingly, in primary education 78% of children questioned said they are worried about climate change (Gelmini).
Sustainability in schools can no longer be at the bottom of a ‘to-do list’; our actions must speak louder than words. Sustainability has become a core pillar of education, without which education will topple.
At Halcyon we are responding to rapid climate change and the cascading complex impacts with an intersection of inter-curricular and extracurricular sustainability approaches for our students. These result in independent action by them, with impact not only beyond themselves, but beyond their school life.
All students in the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (Grades 6-9) partake in environmental science as part of the integrated science course. In Grade 10, environmental science is available as a single science. Sustainability is embedded throughout the horizontal and vertical curriculum with visible “green seasoning”. For example, Grade 6 explores the fair trade process behind creating artisan block-printed fabrics, while Mandarin lessons examine the environmental impact of fast fashion. Additionally, in English, the impact of climate change is used as a lens for creating and analysing prose and poetry.
The Eco Schools Green Flag award provides a rigorous framework. Although core targets are chosen at the start of the academic year to form an action plan, each year new award questions are introduced. Our Eco Committee sets the bar high, aiming for a distinction each year, and we deploy a range of activities and actions to help us meet the distinction level. The Eco Committee brings together students from different year groups, who apply a range of skills to drive collective environmental action, including initiatives such as fast fashion awareness, Cut Your Carbon, Veganuary, Mock Conference of the Parties (COP), and Walk to School. These are our legacy campaigns that grow from strength to strength each year.
Our school calendar is packed with climate action activities. Coinciding with COP, each year we host Mock COP which our student body has developed into core community action, inviting sustainability guest speakers from academia who sit at the forefront of climate action. ‘Cut Your Carbon November’ and other carbon-counting events serve to bring awareness to and reduce our community’s carbon footprint.
Our commitment to vegetarian school lunches, with a variety of delicious sustainable options, adds to our climate-conscious actions. Our rooftop garden serves not only as a space to connect with nature, but a way to directly support our school’s commitment to sustainable lunches. Halcyon students envisioned a ‘garden to plate’ system, planting herbs, fruits, and vegetables that they can nurture, grow and harvest throughout the year. Young people respond best to other young people; that is why at Halcyon we have introduced Students Service Ambassadors. After undertaking training, the ambassadors go on to run Active Hope training sessions at the London Youth Climate Conference (Macy and Johnstone). Our students have delivered these sessions for a second year running and are exploring taking this into other schools.
Young people today face an increasingly complex world, shaped by the consequences of actions of previous generations, yet they hold unprecedented potential to drive change. Schools have a responsibility to help shift the narrative from despair to action, to connect with nature, and to embed sustainable approaches to climate education. At Halcyon, climate action is at the heart of everything we do, woven into the fabric of our ethos, curriculum and vision.
Sources
Woodland Trust. “Young People’s Climate Anxiety Is Soaring, but Being in Nature Helps Wellbeing.” Woodland Trust, 30 Mar. 2023, www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/press-centre/2023/03/young-people-climate-anxiety-green-space-access/
Gelmini, Stefano. “Majority of Under-12s Worried about Climate Change, Survey Shows.” Greenpeace UK, 3 Feb. 2025, www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/majority-of-under-12s-worried-about-climate-change-survey-shows/
Macy, Joanna, and Chris Johnstone. Active Hope. 2024, www.activehope.info/