As the new school year gathers speed, there has never been a better moment to engage young people as the environmental leaders they are already becoming.
This summer brought yet another season of extreme weather, and teachers around the world are seeing what that does to a classroom and local communities. Young people are worried about the state of ocean pollution, about the air outside their window, and about what the next few decades hold for them.
As we’ve seen, this is a valid concern – but left with nowhere to go, it curdles into anxiety and switches young people off at exactly the moment we need them switched on.
Plastic Clever Schools gives that concern somewhere to go. It turns eco-anxiety into visible, measurable action, making students informed agents for change in their schools and communities.
Whether you work in education or have children in school, there are plenty of ways for schools to get involved this year.
What is Plastic Clever Schools?
Plastic Clever Schools offers a free, flexible framework that helps schools make a real difference while embedding sustainability across learning.
Plastic Clever Schools is a UN Ocean Decade-endorsed global community, driving and celebrating student-led action on climate change through plastic reduction. It puts students and young people at the heart of action, equipping educators with the knowledge and resources to build ocean literacy and empower student-led action on plastic waste.
Schools work through three stages to reduce single-use plastics in their schools and achieve the Plastic Clever Award:
- Inspire: Learn about plastic pollution and inspire others to take action.
- Investigate: Identify problem plastics in school and prepare to take action to eliminate them.
- Act: Take action to wave goodbye to single-use plastics.
Our supporting resources have been awarded a climate education “quality mark” by the Royal Meteorological Society. These free marine resources are more than lists of plastic pollution facts for kids. They’re comprehensive curriculum-aligned toolkits full of lesson plans and activities to equip teachers across the world to deliver locally relevant, curriculum-aligned plastic education.
Why now?
Timetables are still settling and September energy is a real and renewable resource.
Starting now means schools have a whole academic year to move through the stages at their own pace, rather than squeezing action into a summer term already crowded with exams.
More than 2,000 schools across 62 countries are now part of our growing global community.
This year promises even more opportunities to get involved, and everything required for the first term is ready and free.
Get involved: The International Day of Action
The International Day of Action is a global event driving youth-led collective action to tackle plastic pollution. It brings together schools, teachers and young people from around the world to learn about plastic pollution and become part of the solution.
The Day of Action is back for its third year on Friday 6th November, and we want to empower more young people than ever.
Through engaging activities, talks from inspiring speakers, and practical activities, students become part of a growing international community working to protect the ocean, communities and the future we share.
Last year, more than 38,630 students from 541 schools across 32 countries took part.
This year’s theme is climate connection, exploring the ways plastic impacts our climate, oceans and communities. Young people already see plastic pollution in their communities, already know about the state of coral reefs and our warming seas.
The Day of Action helps young people to understand how these environmental challenges are connected – and what they can do about it.
It’s free to join in, and Plastic Clever Schools provides everything needed to take part, including ready-to-use resources and support to make participation simple, impactful and rewarding.
The day works as a standalone activity, or as the perfect way to complete the Inspire and Investigate stages of the PCS award.
How can you get involved?
If you’re an educator, click here to register your school and join the movement!
If you work with a youth-focused organisation, reach out to us at [email protected] to find out how your organisation could help spread the word by becoming an International Day of Action Champion!
Make change last: the School Action Fund
Becoming a Plastic Clever School is free and schools can complete the award at no cost.
But sometimes, schools experience barriers to turning their Plastic Clever plans into action – and that’s where the School Action Fund comes in!
Our School Action Fund offers grants of up to £500 to help PCS-registered schools to implement their ideas or to support big ambitions that go above and beyond to create impact in local communities.
The fund is deliberately practical. Grants can be used to cover staff time, to purchase new equipment such as water refill stations or reusable alternatives, or to develop the marine learning resources needed to make a change stick beyond a single term.
Registered schools can apply all year round on the Plastic Clever Schools platform. The process is simple:
- Completing a short application form explaining what the grant would be used for.
- Commit to upload evidence of school activity and complete the Act stage of the PCS programme within a term of receiving the grant.
By increasing schools’ capacity and creating the practical conditions needed to implement change, the School Action Fund equips educators to turn their students’ plans into meaningful action.
Securing lasting reductions in plastic pollution means empowering our future leaders
A Plastic Clever school is not one that has solved plastic pollution. It is one where students understand the problem, the role they can play and the solutions available to them. Where they have changed something real, and discovered in the process that they are already our future leaders.
Find out how you can get involved with our incredible network of more than 2,000 educators and students working together for change by visiting the Plastic Clever Schools website.
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Education for action
Equipping educators and young people with the knowledge and resources to build ocean literacy and empower a growing global community of student-led action on plastic waste.
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