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London's School Changemaker of the Year 2022

WINNER - HENRY GREENWOOD, GREEN SCHOOLS PROJECT

Henry is the Founder and Managing Director of the Green Schools Project, a project on a mission to change the way schools respond to the climate and nature crisis. Through a range of training, support, and resources, they help schools embed climate education into lessons while supporting pupils to run projects that reduce carbon emissions.

Through his work at the Green Schools Project and in particular the Zero Carbon Schools Programme, Henry has demonstrated not only an impressive passion and drive for supporting positive change in schools; he is also actively working to expand the influence his work can have throughout the entire school community at the schools he works with. The Zero Carbon Schools Programme takes a cross curricular, whole class and then whole school approach to combine climate and nature education and action within curriculum time with pupils empowered to lead projects addressing on an issue relating to food, travel, energy or purchasing.  

 

Judges were impressed by the results of the programme so far as well as Henry's commitment to expanding the reach and impact of the programme by offering different models of delivery. This year more than 40 schools are taking part in the programme and Henry plans to expand this to 100 next year. 

Highly commended

Zaqiya Cajee

Zaqiya is a student who founded and has been running an environmental initiative called ‘SwopItUp’ since the age of 15, with the purpose of helping other young people take action against climate change. She has also volunteered on the Teach The Future climate campaign and was a co-coordinator of the global youth Mock COP26 Conference. 

Jenny Chapman

Jenny runs the London Schools Eco-Network (LSEN), a vibrant and expanding group of students and staff from across the city who are passionate about sustainability, education and the intersection of the two! Students meet to discuss environmental and educational issues, organise and deliver campaigns and share what has worked well in their schools, giving them ownership of the LSEN whilst allowing them to develop life skills.

Rachel Harrison

Rachel is Henry Fawcett Primary School’s Assistant Headteacher and the driver of a project to make the school and its community the centre of sustainable development in the Kennington/Oval area.

Martyn Steiner

Martyn Steiner is the environmental science teacher and sustainability project leader at Halcyon London International School. In this role he supports colleagues to bring nature into their teaching. Martyn is also a primary school governor and sits on the British Ecological Society's Education and Careers committee.

London's Sustainable School of the Year 2022

WINNER - GREENSIDE PRIMARY SCHOOL

Greenside Primary School has developed a way of teaching that promotes learning experiences linked to food and nature within all aspects of our curriculum. Learning about the natural world is more than a single subject specific lesson a week, or an opt in extra curricula offering - it is integrated into everything.

The judges were highly impressed with this school's carefully thought through and expertly executed strategy to embed sustainability issues into children's learning.  

 

Their choice of food as a lens through which to explore local and global environmental and social justice issues is working well and leading to tangible change at school, and the development of children's knowledge, skills, and compassionate values.  

 

One judge praised the way the school made efforts to intersect food with other sustainability issues commenting that there was "real integrity in their simplicity". The judges felt that the ethos behind what this school is doing is what makes it such a powerful example of what is possible, and what gives it its systems changing potential.   

Highly commended

Halcyon London International School

Halcyon London International School sprinkles 'green seasoning' into subjects across the school, to build a culture of genuine connection and concern towards the natural world. Fully vegetarian lunches, a sustainable travel policy and environment-focused subjects, clubs and service activities help model sustainability thinking.

Henry Fawcett Primary School

Henry Fawcett Primary School has been working on a project to make the school and its community the centre of sustainable development in the Kennington/Oval area. As well as work that takes place in the classrooms, the school has been connecting with local partners and wider community to find ways to help remove barriers to engaging with sustainable change and broaden the reach of their work.

Parliament Hill School

Climate action and active citizenship is embedded in the culture of Parliament Hill School. The climate action group is the largest extra-curricular club at Parliament Hill, always looking for new partnerships and opportunities to learn more about how they can tackle climate change and support local community groups.

London's Public Sector Organisational Changemaker of the Year 2022

WINNER - LONDON BOROUGH OF MERTON - CLEANER CONSTRUCTION FOR LONDON TEAM

The Air Quality team is delivering London’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ) for Construction Machinery. This pioneering work is shaping positive change in the construction industry, delivering on-the-ground site compliance and significant measurable emissions savings in NOx, PM and CO2 across London.

The Judges were all highly impressed by the London Borough of Merton's Cleaner Construction for London project as it seeks to deliver best practice in a way which could be replicated both globally and at scale. They were impressed by the inclusive nature of the project, as one judge commented, "There is no environmental justice without social justice" and this was considered a key strength of the project.  

 

Overarchingly the judges were in agreement that Merton’s work is a powerful initiative, tackling an underrepresented area in the climate agenda.  Considered a world first, with clear and demonstrable impact.  A very worthy winner. 

Highly commended

London Borough of Redbridge: Green Homes Grant Team

The Redbridge Go Green Grants are available to homeowners and landlords in the borough to help improve the energy efficiency of their homes through the installation of low-carbon heating improvements. This could help save up to £600 a year on energy bills and make homes warmer and more comfortable for the people living in them.

London Borough of Waltham Forest

Since 2014 Waltham Forest has been leading the way on introducing a range of walking and cycling infrastructure and behaviour change initiatives to encourage and enable more people to travel sustainably. This has resulted in improvements in air quality, residents travelling more actively, and an increase in average life expectancy from birth in 2006 of around 1.5 months.

Watch the Sustainable City Awards Ceremony 2022