UN Climate Change Award

Pipers Corner has welcomed one of the first climate change teachers in the country! The United Nations has accredited this new role and the very first climate change teacher in the Wycombe District has been awarded to Melanie Collins, Head of Geography at Pipers Corner. She is in fact one of the first teachers in the UK to have completed the course.

Melanie commented that “whilst climate change has been in the curriculum for years, recent news reports and research reveal the global situation continues to worsen. The information I learnt on the course is astonishing and we really need to provide our students with the knowledge about this so we can empower them to make the decisions that can make a difference to their future.”

The UN Climate Change Teacher Academy is being run by Harwood Education in partnership with the One United Nations Climate Change Learning Partnership. Melanie Harwood, of Harwood Education said: “Young children are far more vulnerable to climate-related disasters and associated health risks than any other social group. In these days of a climate emergency, now more than ever, teachers all need the knowledge in these five courses that make up the Climate Change Teacher Course to ensure they deliver clear climate literacy to all their pupils.”

Angus Mackay, director of the UN Institute for Training and Research said: “Anyone below the age of 20 is part of the ‘climate generation’ living all or most of their lives having to deal with climate change. The Climate Change Teacher Training Academy is an excellent idea because it will give children an intuitive understanding of the issues and it is solutions based.”

Pipers Corner School is wholly committed to environmental issues and has recently banned the use of all single use plastic bottles in the school and has also successfully implemented an ecobricks plastic recycling scheme.  An Environmentalist-in-Residence, Mr Phil Williams, recently joined the team at Pipers Corner. He has been taking his wealth of knowledge into the classroom and helping students and their teachers ensure that sustainability is at the very heart of teaching.