Brighton & Hove Secondary School Children Host Their Own Climate Summit

While world leaders met at COP28, around 60 young people aged 12 to 16 hosted Brighton & Hove’s first Secondary Schools for a Sustainable Future Student Summit.

The aim of the event was to help prioritise climate action in schools across the city.

It took place at the Council Chamber in Hove Town Hall earlier this month. In addition to school staff and governors, the event was also attended by education officers and local sustainability experts.

The schools involved were Blatchington Mill, Cardinal Newman, Dorothy Stringer, Hove Park, Portslade Aldridge Community Academy and Varndean. 

The students, trained by Citizens UK on campaign leadership, shared personal stories explaining why addressing the climate and biodiversity emergencies and protecting the environment is important to them, alongside research they had conducted on different sustainability themes.

The students then voted on a single topic to progress as a city-wide campaign for schools. The theme that was agreed was waste and consumption.

Headteachers and senior representatives from each of the schools also made pledges to work together to make their schools more sustainable, which included:

• stopping the use of single use plastics 
• reducing carbon emissions from energy use by 20%
• giving over 10% more of school land to biodiversity

 Our City, Our World is the sustainability, climate change and environmental education programme for Brighton & Hove schools.

Co-developed with schools in 2022, the programme is now being led successfully in 38 local primary schools. It ensures students receive a curriculum that prepares them with the knowledge, skills and attitudes they will need to live in a changing climate

Following the success of the Our City, Our World programme, a similar strategy has been established for secondary schools.

Secondary Schools for a Sustainable Future is a group of six secondary schools in Brighton & Hove working together to create a more sustainable future for the city's schools and their communities. 

A 2023 survey found that less than half of secondary school students in Brighton & Hove are hopeful about the future of the planet. The programme puts young people's voices 'at its heart' by allowing them to lead on climate action within schools.

A group of 45 young people from across the six schools have been trained as climate leaders. Through the training, students have developed their understanding of the climate and biodiversity crisis, as well as leadership skills, campaigning and community organising.

The climate leaders have recruited and trained four or five climate ambassadors in each tutor group at their school, 'empowering 70-100 young people in each school to support positive change in behaviours and operations'.

Councillor Lucy Helliwell, Joint Chair of the Children, Families & Schools Committee, said: 

“I’m pleased so many inspiring young people were able to come together at the Secondary Schools for a Sustainable Future Student Summit last week.

“All of the students spoke with passion and enthusiasm about a topic that can often be daunting and overwhelming.

“By prioritising actions most relevant to schools, the Secondary Schools for a Sustainable Future programme will support our city-wide ambition of becoming carbon neutral.

“The programme is empowering young people with the tools they need to live in a changing climate while also teaching valuable leadership skills that will benefit them in countless ways in their future.”