This section was created to help make 350 school actions simple to organise while also being a fun learning experience for students!

This year 350.org's global day of action falls on Saturday 24th of September. In order to engage with schools we have planned a School Day of Action on the 22nd of September (also World Car Free Day.

- Planning your action
- For teachers - FREE climate change resource
- Previous years inspiration

 

Planning your school's action

Read our HOW TO GET YOUR SCHOOL INVOLVED RESOURCE (PDF)

In conjunction with UNICEF NZ we have also developed a resource to get a Moving Planet action going at your school - check out their website here for more info.

Ways of doing this could be:

  • Walk to school, a walking bus is a great way to walk to school together safely.

  • Bike to school, perhaps there are some parents that can support the group by cycling with them and helping out with safety.

  • Take the bus, it might mean getting up a little bit earlier to catch it.

  • A mufti-day, and donate the proceeds to 350 Aotearoa to go towards 350 Aotearoa's ongoing projects

  • A pimp-your-ride workshop at lunch-time in preparation for joining in a big event for Moving Planet on 24th September. Making banners, adding streams to your handle bars and more! Find out if there is an event in your town here.

  • A bike maintenance workshop to encourage people to cycle

  • A movement race. Get people to work out the distance they traveled and the time it took them and see who can make it the furthest.

  • Organise a lunch-time run or cycle that is somehow symbolic of 350. e.g 350 teachers and students participating and getting moving.

Read more about Moving Planet and ideas for your actions here www.moving-planet.org

For teachers - classroom activities

This year Global Focus Aotearoa - a New Zealand NGO providing information and education on global issues -  have provided us with a FREE teaching unit on Climate Change for Moving Planet.

This resources aligns with the NZ curriculum and provides a unit plan entitled "Responses to Climate Change"  to assist you in teaching climate change to year 7-10 students. Download the FREE pdf resource here.

Find our more about Global Focus Aotearoa and their other amazing teaching resources at www.globalfocus.org

 

Inspiration

On previous 350.org global day, thousands of young people across New Zealander under took a 350 school action.


In Wanaka, Mount Aspiring College's Junior School planted hundreds of trees (and took a 350 photo afterwards!), and Wanaka Primary's EnviroTeam coordinated six sets of schools, staff and parents (!) to run a collective 350km.

In Dunedin, both Queen's High and Otago Girls' High ran lunchtime jams designing 350-themed posters for the major Dunedin 350 event, while Warrington School conducted a community clean using homemade eco-cleaners! Dunedin's Rudolf Steiner School made home-grown vegetable soup on their yurt classroom's waste wood burner! And in South Canterbury, Morven School ran an eco-working bee in an old cemetery, planting loads of fruit trees.    

In Blenheim, Marlborough Girls' College encouraged 350 students to bike to school, while Nelson's Enviroschools pooled resources and created 350-themed art out of 1 million milk bottletops. They even convinced Climate Change Minister Nick Smith to join in the fun!

In Wellington, a whole bunch of high schools took action, inspired by the Enviroschools-supported Wellington Youth Climate Forum. Samuel Marsden had an climate-themed mufti day with a gold coin donation, a bake sale and sausage sizzle using as many organic ingredients as possible (proceeds to 350 Aotearoa), and a massive rubbish collection around the school and the whole of Karori at lunchtime! Queen Margaret held an entire week's worth of activities (including awards for those using green transport), while Tawa College got on board with a big litter clean up and a wave of 350-themed competitions ... All of them took pics to build the global voice!

Further north, a number of schools in Masterton got 350-active, including Fernridge School, which celebrated the day alongside Greater Wellington Regional Council, Wairarapa Road Safety Council, Masterton Police and Masterton District Councillor Chris Peterson, with a Walk to School 350 Friday.

In Rotorua, Western Heights High lugged a big 350 banner around all the local primary schools, collecting handprints in support of a safe climate future. The banner will be displayed in the local library.

In Gisborne, it was flags rather than banners – Makauri, Awapuni, Wainui, Campion College, Manutuke, Lytton High School, Te Hapara, Riverdale & Rutene Road Kindergarten all pitched in to create 350 flags for the 350-themed community picnic in the park.

In Hamilton, Youth Council members got active creating a massive 350 human sculpture in Garden Square. And in Raglan, it was Whaingaroa Youth Movement that led the 350 Flash Mob that ground Bow St. to a halt!

In Auckland, the active TravelWise team ensured it was safe, low-carbon transport that became the theme of the day! May Road, Massey High, Mt. Roskill, Milford School, Rangeview Intermediate, Sunnyvale, St. Francis, and Westmere were amongst the schools taking a 350 travel-focused action. Willowbank School took to Queen St. and performed a song for the public (photo below!), while Western Springs took an action on the Northern Motorway to raise awareness amongst motorists of the impact their driving is having. Manurewa Intermediate planted trees, and Marist and Rutherford College both took a creative approach and created 350 murals.

On the North Shore, Northcote College focused their action on fundraising to help four young delegates from Kiribati have their voice heard in Copenhagen.

Further north still, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Te Rawhitiroa in Whangarei had a whole day of entertainment, tree planting, good local kai and fun! And in Kerikeri, Oromahoe students planted a mandarin tree, 'to absorb CO2, produce oxygen and save petrol by growing fruit in our own back yard.'

 

Phew - what a list of awesome actions, getting students involved in the issue of climate change!

 

 

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