On Tuesday 4th November, the Sheffield City Council Sustainability and Climate Change Team were joined by eight young people from across Sheffield. This day was part of the wider Youth Takeover Week hosted by the Youth Voice Team and coincides with Green Careers Week.

The aim of the day was to give the young people an insight into the world of working in sustainability, to get them to think about how climate change is affecting them, and to get their input on what steps the council should take to make Sheffield more sustainable in the future.

During the day, the cohort of 16–19 year-olds heard from members of the team about the work they are doing to make improve our city, as well as how they got into their careers. Following a lunchtime Q&A, the group was tasked with considering how climate change is impacting them at home and college, and what they would like to see done to adapt to these issues. To round off the day, five of the group joined the Built for Change steering group, made up of elected members and expert stakeholders, to present their ideas to be included in future decisions. 

The tutor attending with the group said: "this experience allowed the students to share their thoughts as well as let their voices be heard. They really appreciated it!"

It was a great day of learning and idea exchange for all involved, and we would like to thank all the young people that joined us!  

Connected by Water are working across the region to make our people and places more flood resilient.

Autumn and winter bring increased likelihoods of floods. Would your education setting be ready? There are a couple of easy steps you can take to prepare, just in case.

Step 1: Have you checked your long-term flood risk?

This can help to understand your risk and whether your setting needs to incorporate flood prevention and mitigation into plans going forward.

Step 2: Have you signed up for flood warnings?

You can enter your postcode and sign up for warnings, so your setting is alerted to any immediate risk.

The government has more useful advice about getting your education setting flood ready. Take a look at this checklist: Assess and manage flood risk in schools checklist

If you’d like to find out more about flood resilience in your education setting and the region as a whole, the Connected by Water team have availability for free visits in November.

They can bring a range of information and engaging activities for various age groups on the theme of flood safety and preparedness. 

Encouraging active travel to school

Bike and scooter storage facilities have been installed in ten primary schools across Sheffield, funded by money generated from the Clean Air Zone. As well as providing a sheltered, secure space for students to store their bikes, the units have green roofs, which support local biodiversity, and are built using sustainably sourced timber. The schools have already seen an increase in the number of children cycling to school, which means fewer children arriving in cars! 

For the full story click the button below, and if you’re considering a bike shelter at your site see the funding section further down this newsletter. 

Met Office climate action tracking

The Met Office are asking all education settings (nurseries, primaries, secondary and FE settings) to complete their Climate Action Tracker form.

The form should take no more than 20 minutes to complete. You may not be at a stage where you can complete the whole form or have even started your climate action plan however, all information helps to gather a national picture on the progress of climate action planning in education settings. This will allow the Met Office to effectively support education settings in the climate action planning and implementation process. It also helps your setting consider and monitor progress on Climate Action Plan development and delivery, and to identify areas for improvement.

Once you have completed the form, you are encouraged to save and email yourself your answers, allowing you to see your progress over time and better identify areas for improvement.

With thanks from the Met Office. 

Built for Change is hosting an online workshop led by experts from Mott MacDonald and the Sheffield City Council’s Facilities Management team. This workshop will support education providers to understand the best way to manage your buildings and grounds in hot and cold weather, and how to get the best and most cost-efficient output from your heating systems.

During the workshop you will learn how buildings respond to heat and cold weather, how behavioural and operational changes can significantly improve the temperature of your building, and how you can make changes to your heating system to save money and regulate temperatures.

The workshop is suitable for any staff who have responsibility for building management at a school or trust level.

Register your interest in attending using the button below.

Let’s Go Zero are hosting a number of online training sessions and workshops over the coming months, as well as a back catalogue of webinars that you can watch at any time. Topics range from the role of Sustainability Lead to retrofitting your building, and are free to join. Click the button below to see all topics. 

The Cyclehoop Education Fund is a grant that gives schools the chance to install new cycle parking or upgrade existing facilities. Successful schools will receive expert guidance and financial support towards the project. 

Applications are open until 17th November 2025. 

There is one place left for a Sheffield school to take part in the Global Action Plan’s ‘Good Life Schools’ programme, a free programme for secondary schools and colleges, that brings communities together to create ways of living and learning together that are good for us, and good for the planet. 

Working with Sheffield City Council and Sheffield Hallam University, the programme ran in three Sheffield secondaries last academic year and are already working with five secondary schools for the 2025-26 academic year.

Join the supported Good Life Schools programme and receive: 

• CPD, launch assembly and workshop delivery from the local officer
• Step-by-step guidance and a pack of teaching resources and activities to support your school run the programme up to an entire academic year
• Ongoing support from your Community Engagement Lead
• Funding of up to £2,000 to help you deliver the project 

If you have any questions about Good Life Schools, whether you want to join the programme or already taking part, Community Engagement Leads will be able to answer your questions at an upcoming series of online Teacher Q&A drop-in sessions.

By joining the programme, schools receive CPD for teachers, guidance, ongoing support and funding to deliver the project. For further details, contact Laura Brown at Good Life Schools.