Designing Sustainable Schools

Welcome to Designing Sustainable Schools!

"What you do makes a difference. And you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." ~ Dame Jane Goodall

This Designing Sustainable Schools course supports climate action in schools, by helping teachers develop comprehensive Climate Action Plans, aligned with the Department for Education’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy (England).

An online CPD-accredited course.

Designed specifically for busy teachers and Sustainability Leads.

Guided by the values of caring for the Earth, its people, and the future, this course emphasises the involvement of the entire school community – including leadership, staff, learners and their families. 

It covers key areas, including climate education, green careers, digital infrastructure, and operations.

Using the "3H" model for effective teaching, it includes: 

• The Head for knowledge

• The Heart for values and engagement

• The Hands for active involvement and lesson planning 

This course also includes extensive time away from the computer screen, with a journal for auditing your school's progress.

Why Choose This Course?

• Clear & Practical: Find manageable starting points for sustainability that make a lasting impact.

• Flexible Learning: Work at your own pace for just £52, with lifetime access to revisit and adapt your strategies.

• Whole-School Approach: Engage leadership, staff, learners, and families in building a greener future.

• See your school as a system: Focus on caring for the earth, people, and the future.

• Take your first step towards meaningful, achievable regenerative goals today!

   

How it benefits you and your school 

Your pupils: 

• Pupil’s learning and progress.
• Pupil's mental health.
• Pupil confidence and voice.
• Pupil preparation for adulthood.

Your team:

• Staff confidence and expertise.
• School culture.
• Your whole school curriculum and its relevance to your pupil’s future.

Your site: 

• The biodiversity of your site.
• The resilience of your site to floods and heat.
• Your school’s energy and water efficiency
• Reducing your whole school's carbon footprint
• The school budget through reducing energy bills and more effective procurement

The wider community:

• How you engage with your community
• Your reputation  

What is a Climate Action Plan? 
 

A Climate Action Plan (CAP) identifies how your school, college, academy or trust approaches the five climate action areas in the Department for Education's Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy.

"We've set a target for all education settings to have a sustainability lead and a Climate Action Plan in place by 2025, to embed sustainability in all they do."
  ~ DfE, December 2023

Within this course you will find a template Climate Action Plan and plenty of resources linking you to other organisations that are doing similar work to support you. 

Why this is important

"Schools and trusts have the greatest success in driving change where there is a holistic action plan that is supported by a leadership team with the authority, knowledge, and commitment to take it forward." ~ DfE, 2022

A whole-setting approach

It is important that your whole school, or education trust, is engaged in the process of creating your Climate Action Plan. Firstly, so that planning becomes action; and secondly, so that you are supported and can enjoy your role.

In this course, we will take you through a tried-and-tested design process, to help you to make the most appropriate decisions for your setting. We will help you to develop a Climate Action Plan that shows bold ambition, but which is also realistic and applicable.

Incorporating permaculture principles, this course fosters resilience and creativity: for lasting sustainability education and climate action.

We hope you'll join us!

1. This is an online self study course.
2. Depending on your depth of study, consuming the materials in this course will take a minimum of 8-12 hours from start to finish depending on your reading pace.
3. If you take time over your reflections in the journal and climate action plan, it will take longer and you can choose to invest more time throughout your year and into the future, as you develop as a Sustainability Lead.

This course has been created through a collaboration between the Permaculture Association, UK teachers and headteachers, ecological and social designers, consultants and community climate activists.

Many thanks to the course creation team: Georgina-Kate Adams and Paula Moses from Permanent Education, Jemma Findley from the Permaculture Association (PAB), Graham Wigginton, Chikara Shimasaki from OICD, Valéria Kelemen and Lil Newton. Thanks also to: the rest of the Permaculture Association team, Merve Dilek Efe and Ash Permaculture. And to the teachers from the 2023 PAB Education Gathering, who volunteered their time in identifying this course as a solution: Alex Hall, Wenderlynn Bagnall, Ellen Crozier, and Kelli-Marie Sellwood from The Woodland Woom. Final thanks go to all the permaculture pioneers who have come before us and helped to lay the foundations for this course to flourish.