Our friends Gill and Peter from Furness Education and Skills Partnership tell us more about their fantastic work around green careers in Primary schools:

As Project Leads for the Furness Education and Skills Partnership (FESP), we are keen to let you know about an exciting new project we are delivering for 2023, focused on climate change careers. The project. for primary schools, links pupils with businesses to create a legacy piece that will help the environment and raise the awareness of pupils and their families, of the careers available in the field of environmental change.

In March, we held a project design event involving students and teachers from five schools, working with two local businesses (Orsted and Oxley Developments). The businesses engaged the children in discussions to begin to shape project ideas around the issues that are important to the children and their local environment. This laid the foundation for the main project later this year, where each school will design and develop their idea with the support of their own business partner. Each business will either work directly on the climate agenda or have environment protection at the heart of their operational model.

FESP Project Leads will guide and support each partnership to gain maximum benefit form involvement in the project.

We know, from our previous experience as Teachers and Project Leads, the immense benefit to students when they work alongside businesses; developing life skills and beginning to recognise their personal responsibility for and importance in the wider world. We envisage that this will become an annual project with the involvement of a growing number of schools. The potential impact on students’ views of the current climate crisis and the career opportunities they could access is significant.

For more information, contact Gill and Pete via the FESP website or on projects@fesp.org.uk