Funded by the DfE, Climate Ambassadors match volunteer climate experts with education settings.
Part of Let’s Go Zero, Climate Action Advisors are independent experts who offer free support for schools, colleges, and nurseries across England.
Operating directly beneath Luton Airport flightpath has not stopped The Stockwood Park Academy from transforming into a thriving haven for biodiversity, proving that any school can make an environmental impact.
By using the Department for Education’s funded sustainability programmes, the academy is transforming how they embed sustainability inside and outside the classroom.
What they did
They are one of ten schools within Advantage Schools Multi Academy Trust that’s taking sustainability very seriously. The Trust have Sustainability Leads across their sites, as well as two Trust-level staff members involved in Estates and Sustainability, and Curriculum and Sustainability.
The Stockwood Park Academy is transforming thanks to Donna Rutter (Academy Estates and Trust Sustainability Manager), Andrew Kelly (Sustainability Lead and History teacher) and an eco-council of pupils.
As a school, they have:
- Signed up to Sustainability Support for Education to access free resources to help them complete actions within their Climate Action Plan
- Signed up to National Education Nature Park and have mapped the school’s green space
- Signed up to Let’s Go Zero and had an advisor visit, and provide a Climate Action Plan template
- Accessed the Climate Ambassador scheme to engage with external speakers to help raise awareness of green skills and career pathways
- Signed up to Count Your Carbon and Energy Sparks to monitor the school’s gas and electricity use, and involve pupils to help reduce their energy use
- Established an eco-council, supported by the Student Leadership Team, to give students a choice in shaping sustainability priorities
How they’ve transformed their estate
Thanks to grant funding through the Luton Airport Community Trust Fund, The Stockwood Park Academy has created a biodiversity haven with a new, productive allotment.
They also maintain two active beehives, also purchased through a grant - which house over 60,000 bees! These are safely managed by a staff member who’s a trained apiarist. These are placed by a wildflower meadow, a very large pond, ducks and chickens.
The pond space, surrounded by classrooms, is available to access for those that need a place to find some peace and quiet as well as the Chicken and Duck extra-curricular club.
How to replicate at your setting
- Create a sustainability working group
- Appoint a sustainability lead
- Sign up to Let’s Go Zero, Climate Ambassadors, National Education Nature Parks and Sustainability Support for Education to get an understanding of the help that is available to your school
- Find systems and tools to improve your carbon emissions management and get a baseline of your energy use (so you have something to build from)
Want to replicate Stockwood Park Academy's success?
Take a look at these recommended actions:
Develop a short term Climate Action Plan
By 2025 the Department for Education expects all settings in England to have developed a 'Climate Action Plan'. You can use Sustainability Support for Education to identify the actions you want to take, and use these to create your short term Climate Action Plan.
Complete and submit biodiversity funding applications
Use your biodiversity funding programme to schedule your application submissions. You can increase your chances of receiving grant funding by preparing your applications before the funding window opens.