Hello to all our SEEd friends and supporters. With spring is tentatively here, the new season enthusiasm and energy in SEEd is rising unabated!
Firstly, you may have seen our recruitment campaign and I hope you ‘ll join me in welcoming the new members of the SEEd Team – Claudi Williams, Operations Lead, and Sarah Frazer, Wellbeing and Communities Lead. We are delighted to have such experienced and highly effective team members onboard. I will continue as CEO and Learning for Sustainability Lead, with responsibility for Advocacy and Advice. We do of course have a wider team – Rachael on the newsletter, Justin on Marketing and Web, Sam on IT and our fabulously active Board , who collectively act as Mentors on our Change Maker course, help at events, help with our survey and reports, designing our strategy and funding approaches and much more!
Secondly, we’re about to launch SEEd’s Young Changemaker programme in Gloucestershire with an initial focus on the Stroud area. We have been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of both the secondary schools and the local partners and we would like to thank the initial funders Southall Trust, Renishaw’s Staff Trust, and the Langtree Trust. We feel we have truly identified a need and a method that appeals. Even better, the method is based fully on learning for sustainability with transformative learning approaches embedded. Most importantly, as shown through our 4 year pilot study at Wellington College, it is simple for any school to adopt with minimal staff time.
If you would like to hear more, or sign your school up do contact me: ann.finlayson@se-ed.org.uk or check out our information page here: https://se-ed.org.uk/our-work/seed-young-changemakers/
Thirdly we are beginning to design our Youth Board (or whatever they want to call it). Zoe, one of our new Trustees, is looking for young people to work with her to design the Board so it works for them and supports SEEd’s mission of “putting sustainability at the heart of all learning, and learning at the heart of sustainability”. Please contact me if you would like to hear more or join this development phase.
We are getting out and about a lot more – please read Claudi’s blog about our great day At Rencomb College. And on Earth Day we will be attending Stroud College for their inaugural Sustainability Day linked to our Young Changemaker roll out.
We are also looking at developing our Ambassadors Programme with our first enthusiastic supporter about to be announced (hint – “Here‘s one I prepared earlier”). Watch this space for news.
We are continuing to develop our consultancy/advice programme too. Currently advising or supporting DfE (Sustainability and Climate Change), EC DG EAC on a foresight study of education in the EU, Stroud District Council.
We are continuing to develop our consultancy/advice programme too. Currently advising or supporting DfE (Sustainability and Climate Change), EC DG EAC on a foresight study of education in the EU, Stroud District Council Community Engagement Board. When I look back there has been a very large range of people and places we have advised/work with including Tokyo, Athens, Vietnam, Dubai, Canada, UNESCO (Whole Institution Approach), Thailand, Moscow (Sustainable School Design Competition), the TES, Keele University, Zero Carbon Rugeley Innovate UK project, Das Gupta Review with WWF, DCSF, and others.
Lastly, we will be at the Festival of Education again this year. Excitingly Wellington College and Lsect, have adopted a sustainability strand into the festival agenda without us having to propose it again. The number of presentations is being reduced overall – and each strand will only be on one day. So, if you are interested in Sustainability as a school or teacher, be sure to sign up for Day 1- July 6th. https://educationfest.co.uk/
If you are not yet members, or have not yet signed up to Easy Fundraising or helping support us and schools to embed sustainability for all our young people please do consider it. Change is happening and we need to really pick up the pace to address all the requests we are getting. The young people and schools, and their communities will really benefit: https://se-ed.org.uk/helping-seed/
Thanks you for all your support for the last 15 years of SEEd’s history – we are all needed now more than ever!
Ann and the Team
