From litter pick to leadership: Empowering eco-champions in schools

The children in our schools today will inherit a world that requires their stewardship more than ever. They are our future climate leaders and environmental protectors – and they will face challenges that we can’t yet comprehend. It is therefore vital that we raise them with a passion and care for the environment, a sense of responsibility, and the confidence to become agents of change.

At Heatherton, we cultivate a spirit of ownership in all our pupils. Our Pre-Prep and Prep Planet Protector clubs engage even the youngest children with the environment through crafts and interactive experiences. We make bird feeders for the RSPB Schools Big Bird Watch, run art workshops with recycled materials, and connect with local species through bird and leaf bingo. Every child begins their journey with a Planet Pledge – a promise to contribute in any way possible to help the planet. This ensures the children are thinking actively about their place in the world and instils a sense of stewardship that stays with them as they develop.

From Year 2, children can join our dynamic Eco Council. We firmly believe that children can drive positive change if only given the chance, so the Eco Council leads many of our school-wide sustainability initiatives. At school events, the Eco Council run a stall where they educate their peers on environmental issues and share details of their current projects; last year, a survey at the stall revealed that both pupils and parents expressed a growing consciousness about the implications of meat consumption on our environment. In light of this discovery, our Eco Council campaigned for the introduction of Meat Free Mondays – a welcome addition that is now fully integrated into our weekly meal cycle. It is inspiring to see the children identify an area of change and successfully advocate for what they believe in. And the veggie options are delicious!

Participating in the Eco Council also develops leadership skills that grow our pupils into responsible environmental champions. With only a modest budget at their disposal, the children are tasked with raising funds for their initiatives, for example by selling handcrafted birdseed feeders and mugs and seed bombs. The money raised has been invested into buying essential gardening equipment and installing three in-ground wormeries for our new garden beds. In doing so, the children not only learn about the importance of budgeting and resource management, but also the significance of reusing and repurposing materials. With this mindset, the Eco Council demonstrates that sustainability can be fun, practical and community driven.

While the Eco Council drives many of our initiatives, the whole school gets involved with sustainability projects. We launched a school-wide competition to design an innovative planting scheme, leading to imaginative entries such as a “Stir Fry Growing Garden”, that the children then planted and nurtured into delicious produce. Sustainability is woven into our Food Tech curriculum as food waste is transformed into nutrient-rich compost through our on-site wormeries. This cyclical approach reinforces the connection between environmental care and healthy living, teaching our pupils that every action, no matter how small, has a ripple effect on the ecosystem. We also have a school-wide litter picking scheme and have pledged to litter pick 200 bags as part of the Keep Britain Tidy Big School Clean Up. Litter picking kits are available for pupils to use over the weekend, encouraging environmental stewardship beyond the realms of the classroom.

At Heatherton, every small act – from picking up litter to planting a seed – has an impact. By engaging pupils in meaningful, tangible projects, as well as empowering them with the responsibility to initiative change, we are developing future leaders who will transform not only schools but also entire communities.