2025-03 - STAR MAT Climate Change Conference

Students and staff from our Trust recently held their very own Conference of the Parties – COP to discuss climate change.  More than 50 students and staff along with representatives from Elmet Lions, gathered to look at some of the impacts of climate change, and work together to begin to forge Climate Action Plans for each of our schools, to help impact on sustainability and all sorts of environmental matters.  From the Action Plans, our schools will target measures to reduce their school carbon footprint, encourage biodiversity of the school site, further develop climate education and consider how their school can further adapt to the challenges of extreme weather. 

 

Elmet Lions kindly presented each primary school with a set of fiction books centred on the environment. Margaret Hartley of Elmet Lions said’ ‘Elmet Lions see working with the schools under the STAR MAT umbrella as both positive and exciting.  The environment and youth leadership are part of Lions International ethos and the conference was both inspiring and motivating.’

 

As a Trust, we are already deeply proud of the work on this agenda. We have worked hard to make physical change to our sites with several now having ground or air source heat pumps, several solar installations and all our lighting now moved to LED. There is a Trust-level Sustainability Strategy in place, which sets out our commitment to make a real difference ranging from locally sourced foods, through reduction in single-use plastics, to transport policy.