Green Futures: Teaching Sustainability

Children at St Pancras Primary School in Lewes, East Sussex have been learning about how to protect their environment by filming the build of their new, and entirely sustainable, school extension.

The pupils have been active learners in the project. Not only have they learned about environmental issues, they've also gained skills in IT, learned how to handle a video camera, frame shots and use software to edit moving pictures. They've also developed journalistic skills - for instance, how to conduct an interview and shape a narrative for their story.

The British Council for School Environments supported the production of a DVD, 'Green Futures', alongside the Innovation Unit, and is based on footage collected from this project. The DVD and accompanying booklet are designed to enable other pupils, teachers, schools, communities and local government to see how sustainability can be weaved into the curriculum.

It is also an illuminating prompt for other institutions and organisations to follow St Pancras' example by developing environmentally sustainable buildings that can be resourced locally for everyone's benefit.