Dan, Sam and Munya are all 16. As part of their GCSE Citizenship Studies course at Patcham High School, they worked on sustainability projects. This included Close the Door, a national campaign asking retailers to save energy by keeping doors closed. Not only did their group persuade shops in The Lanes; some big shops agreed and also changed their national policy.
They said: “Working on the various projects has given us knowledge about communities in the city and making change happen. Seeing our success on Close the Door has made us feel powerful, like presidents! We feel that we have done something in our lives”.
As more evidence that schools in Brighton & Hove are thinking globally and taking the climate change issue seriously, pupils at Patcham High School are getting involved in all sorts of projects, driving forward their ambition to become an eco school.
The Close The Door campaign has been endorsed among others, by Caroline Lucas MP for Brighton Pavilion and Boris Johnson Mayor of London.
Watch a video of their efforts here...
Frankie, Kanchel and Kashmere have been working hard with the school canteen to try and encourage their use of fair trade goods. The canteen have been brilliant, buying in as many Fair Trade ingredients as they can, as well as donating their used cooking oil to the Big Lemon Bus Company.
Jake, Jared, Marlon and Leam have been recycling batteries to prevent toxic materials leaking out of them at the landfill, and seeping in to the ground water supply that mixes with streams and lakes. This can poison the water supply and cause disease and death to the animals living there.
And on top of all of this, year 10 have been highlighting the lack of freedom and democracy in Burma through dance! They were joined for a fantastic afternoon in February by Ben from the charity Free to Dance, after which many students left comments on the Free to Dance Facebook page expressing thanks. One from David stated “I AM FREE TO DANCE!!!”.
Well done everyone!!
Find out about education surrounding climate change and information about campaigning within the community, here at 
Dan, Sam and Munya were part of the group that organised the clothes swapping event Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith
Dan, Sam and Munya in the school canteen Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith
