Case study: How Great Chart Primary School Embraced Climate Change Education

Introduction 

For many years now, Primary Engineer have been embedding data into the heart of the education curriculum with their STATWARS: Climate Change Challenge. This case study delves into how Great Chart Primary School in Kent, new this year to our STATWARS experience, successfully deepened its commitment to sustainability with their pupils participating in this competition. 

Why are they involved? 

Tanslea Burton, Geography Lead at Great Chart Primary School, explains their initial engagement: “It was definitely the climate change element that led us to take part and it seemed to be an excellent way to deepen the understanding of our school Eco-Warriors group, highlight their importance and give them a great focus to work on together.”  

What has the experience been like? 

Tanslea, along with the Science Lead, shares the responsibility of Sustainability Leads at the school and really felt like the pupil embraced the challenge wholeheartedly. “The children really enjoyed getting their teeth into the research they conducted and sharing this with the rest of the school – it was a first-hand way for them to see the evidence behind global warming rather than simply being told by their teachers that it is happening.” 

Some schools who take part in this competition run it with their whole-class but for Great Chart Primary School they ran it with their Eco-Warriors group, a diverse group ranging from Year 2 to Year 6, dedicating several terms of school time to the project with multiple sessions. “We broke the sessions down into a clear focus each week,” Tanslea explains, “starting with working out our carbon footprint as individuals and then finding the mean average for our group; looking at statistics for our area to provide evidence of the impact of climate change; considering how we could go about addressing the problems; putting together the infographic to support our findings and writing the letter to our MP.” The older children provided valuable support to their younger peers, all under teacher guidance.  

It’s inspiring and impressive hearing about the amount of time Great Chant Primary School spent immersing into the competition. For schools who want to take part but aren’t able to dedicate a huge amount of time and need more flexibility, we have ‘STATWARS® in a Lesson’ available.  

For Tanslea, she felt that keeping the wider school community informed was a priority. “The children kept the rest of the school involved through presenting their findings in assemblies across the term and then finally presenting to the children as they presented to you.” Ariella, one of the pupils agreed about the importance of telling her schoolmates “As Eco-warriors we cannot do this by ourselves so we realised we would have to raise awareness in our school. We made posters to tell everyone what we are doing and we have hosted an assembly about our challenge.” Their success was celebrated in assembly, where they received their certificates. Parents were also kept in the loop with updates and pictures posted on Class Dojo. 

The impact of the STATWARS experience continues to resonate within the school. “Our Eco-Warrior team are very involved in supporting our work towards our new Climate Action Plan this year,” Tanslea shares. This includes KS1 Eco-Warriors taking home litter pickers to encourage parental involvement over weekends, sharing their efforts via Google Classroom. Currently, the team is developing an assembly to promote a “Power Down day” at the end of term, where teaching will occur without technology or electricity, encouraging similar practices at home. 

Highlighting some memorable moments, Tanslea recalls, “The litter pick we did after school one week as the children enjoyed it so much! I think it was also sobering for the children to see their own individual impact on the world and think about ways they could make a difference. The children were so engaged and passionate – they loved taking part and remain committed to being a greener school.”  One of the pupils, Joshua said “We went litter picking around our local area and, in 30 minutes, filled up 2 bags of rubbish. We were flabbergasted by how much there was and how it made the environment around our school so much less pleasant. It looked so much better once we’d finished and so we have asked everyone to take care not to litter and make sure all their rubbish always goes in the bin!” 

Conclusion 

The STATWARS: Climate Change Challenge fostered a multitude of essential skills in the Great Chart Primary School students. “The competition promoted and developed so many different skills: research and information gathering, collating information, collaboration with their peers, presenting both to you and to the rest of the school, to name a few,” says Tanslea. 

Looking ahead, the school aims to further empower the children. “Moving forward, we would definitely aim to give the children greater independence into their own research projects with our support and the project helped them to appreciate the value of statistical evidence and analysis. It was obviously particularly gratifying for us all that they did so well!” 

Huge thank you to Great Chart Primary School for sharing these valuable insights. If you have worked with us and want to share your experiences, contact us on marketing@Primaryengineer.com