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About One Planet Schools

About One Planet Schools

Imagine a school where everyone cares – about themselves, each other, and about the planet; now and in the future. Now imagine a school where this caring touches everything it does – what and how pupils learn; how the school manages its physical environment and resources; how staff and pupils relate to each other; how they work with their local community – and how they reach out to the wider world.

What you are imagining is a ‘ One Planet School ’: a place committed to reducing its impact on the planet here and now; a place which prepares young people to act as drivers for sustainability in the future; a place with a vision of how people and nature can live in harmony, on a thriving, green planet.

This is the vision behind WWF’s One Planet Schools programme – a programme which strives to reach out towards the 10.3 million highly influential young people who enter our schools five days a week, 40 weeks of the year.

One Planet Schools builds on the government’s Sustainable Schools agenda. The One Planet Schools programme will grow and evolve over the next few years, but here’s a taster of what we have to offer currently.

Learn

Learn, WWF’s free poster resource for schools, provides inspiring and thought-provoking ideas every term to help you and your pupils start thinking about topical environmental issues. The resource includes a poster image and quote, key questions, stimulus activity ideas and background information

Child centred learning with Espresso

The BETT Award winning “Sustainability module” – developed jointly with Espresso Education – provides child-centred digitally based learning materials designed to develop a range of skills and build their understanding of sustainability issues. Video clips, photos, features, surveys and news stories are backed up by ‘learning paths’ which help pupils navigate the material in a meaningful way and make learning fun. There are also mini ‘campaigns’ linked to WWF’s work on conservation and sustainable consumption.

A musical adventure

WWF has a proud history of producing musicals for schools. Through partnerships with leading musical publishers and composers, we have been responsible for the production of over eight school musicals which have been performed by thousands of people right across the world. These cover issues from rainforest destruction, marine pollution, fair trade and loss of habitats.

An annual meeting place for teachers

WWF has run a conference for teachers for the last six years. These have grown in terms of numbers and also the range of partnerships that have built around them. The conference, a one day event, takes place in June each year. It is planned to ensure a balance of inspiring and motivating speakers, highly participatory workshops and plenary sessions to encourage networking and sharing of expertise.

One Planet Schools is about ‘hearts and minds’: it's about...

  • Building understanding and skills
  • Exploring values and attitudes
  • Offering tools, resources, and activities
  • Facilitating discussion
  • Encouraging action.

Find out more.. Watch our One Planet Schools film