Safeguarding the 1200

83 per cent of children and young people in England say that looking after the environment is important to them.

 

But in the same Government survey revealing these statistics (The Children’s People and Nature Survey, 2024), 86 per cent said they want to do more to look after the environment.

 

Step forward, LWC’s Environment Leaders: a passionate group of Sixth Formers committed to making a difference within the 1200 and beyond.

 

All are studying for a Level 3 Qualification in Leading a Project for Positive Change, as part of a programme developed by the Leadership Skills Foundation, in partnership with the WWF and the RSPB. The aim is simple: to try to make a difference in the natural world.

 

LWC Upper Sixth Former, Oxana has just completed the qualification, earning herself eight UCAS points in the process. But for this 17-year-old, completing the programme was about trying to protect our environment for generations to come.

 

“I’ve always been really passionate about the environment and helping to solve environmental issues,” she explains. “It’s becoming more and more important in my opinion.”

 

Oxana comes from a farming background. Her grandparents farm land in France and this, together with the 1200 acres she’s immersed in at LWC, has certainly influenced her outlook.

 

“The Environment Leaders Programme teaches us the key skills that are needed, not just for environmental leadership, but for leadership in general,” she continues. “We look closely at ourselves and come up with things that we can develop. Then we apply our skills to individual projects, with the aim of achieving a successful outcome.”

 

For Oxana, creating a more sustainable food offering was the focus. “I’m a pescetarian and so I don’t eat meat,” she explains. “I’m interested in the fact that so many people seem to have an aversion to being meat-free. So I set out to try to help reduce the overall carbon footprint of LWC, caused by meat consumption and to try and educate our College community about sustainable eating.”

 

Naturally, this isn’t something that Oxana could do without the help of the LWC community. “I met several times with Mr Hedley (LWC’s Catering Manager) and the Catering Team, who were lovely and very supportive,” she reveals. “The school already had a plan in place to try to reduce our meat consumption, by using more beans and other sources of protein and so I began working with them on that and thinking about how we could explain that to pupils in school. Over time, this approach could reduce our CO2 emissions by more than 30 per cent.”

 

“We should be really proud of what we’re doing as a school. It’s genuinely amazing. Every little difference will help. If we have that conscious environmental focus and if we’re respectful to our environment, then that has to be a good thing for everyone.”

— Oxana, LWC Sixth Former

 

In order to achieve this goal, Oxana admits that communication is key: “It was really about helping people to understand that by substituting a percentage of the meat in some dishes for other types of protein, the protein levels in the food stayed the same, but the environmental impact was much less.”

 

In fact, research shows that producing 1kg of protein from kidney beans requires approximately 18 times less land, ten times less water, nine times less fuel, 12 times less fertiliser and ten times less pesticide, in comparison to producing 1kg of protein from beef. 

 

Oxana set out to encourage others to think about the environmental impact of meat consumption. “Being able to talk to younger tutor groups about this was powerful,” she admits. “Everyone has a part to play and, in my opinion, it’s about setting an example to others. We should be really proud of what we’re doing as a school. It’s genuinely amazing. Every little difference will help. If we have that conscious environmental focus and if we’re respectful to our environment, then that has to be a good thing for everyone.”

 

Whilst Oxana’s focus was on LWC’s carbon footprint, the other projects being developed by this cohort of budding Environment Leaders touch on a range of alternative ways to affect positive change, both within the boundaries of the 1200 and further afield.

   

“Some students have developed nature walks for primary school children,” explains course leader, Joanne Mackenzie. “Others have set out to build bird gardens, hedgehog houses and engage in rewilding with bee and insect-friendly plants.

 

“Studying for the qualification has certainly helped the students to build confidence,” she continues. “They can analyse their own leadership skills and identify how to improve them. Several of them used this to help inform their prefect applications. They’re also able to develop teamwork and project management skills. They need to ask other members of the LWC community for help, such as the Catering or Grounds Team – which has boosted their ability to communicate effectively.”

 

“I would encourage anyone to give the Environment Leaders Programme a go,” Oxana concludes. “You learn so much, you can see your skills developing as you pull the project together and it opens your mind to so many different things. I feel as though I’ve hopefully made a positive difference.”

 

Former professional basketball star, Michael Jordan once famously said, “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen and others make it happen.”

 

Make way for this new generation; setting out to instigate change whilst preserving the 1200 for generations to come.

 

The Environment Leaders Programme runs on Saturday mornings at LWC. For more information, contact Jo Mackenzie.