This term we are delighted to announce that our Super Hero School is Southroyd Primary in Pudsey, Leeds, who have used a whole school approach to embedding sustainability and climate knowledge into their lessons, curriculum and daily life.

In September, the Energy Heroes team had the pleasure of visiting Southroyd Primary where we were impressed by the dedication of staff and pupils to the theme of sustainability. We have since revisited and helped pupils to continue their energy saving work and were pleased recently to teach a lesson in their wonderful sustainable building The Cabin, which is made from 90% recycled / recyclable materials.

The cabin

For a number of years, outdoor learning has been a key part of the Southroyd Promise. They have integrated outdoor lessons into their curriculum and added Forest School to their wider school curriculum, working closely with Amanda Sowerby, a specialist in the field.

In recent years, they have been guided by a climate action plan that prompted them to embed sustainability as one of their core school values. The plan serves as a framework for auditing and managing sustainable practices at every level of the organisation, ensuring that all staff — including extended school teams — consider the environmental impact of their decisions, from ordering supplies and sourcing food to purchasing resources.

To learn more about their success, we spoke to David Manton, Deputy Headteacher at Southroyd to discover what has contributed to their achievements in sustainability.

Dave Manton, Deputy Headteacher

What activities have taken place to build sustainability into the curriculum and into day to day school life?

“Over recent years we have followed a climate action plan, which led us to update sustainability as one of our key school values. We use the action plan to audit and manage sustainable practices at all levels, such that all extended school staff think about sustainability within their decisions such as ordering paper, sourcing food or buying resources.”

Section from Southroyd Primary’s Climate Action Plan 2025

“The action plan enables an auditing of climate friendly practice across the school system and is monitored by pupil voice through the school council who seek to question decisions in school. The processes widen each year with our Year 6 SATs breakfast being under review in the next cycle, whereas reviewing the sourcing of milk cartons was an earlier decision to reduce our school’s non-recyclable waste. At the same time, curriculum areas have moulded to reflect sustainability and climate change, for example, learning about bee habitats in Year 1 or focusing on developing peaceful protests around traffic in Year 4.”

A young Forest explorer at Southroyd

“As well as being an important part of changing children’s habits, to prepare them for a more sustainable future, the approach has been important to change the habits of school leaders and values of the local community, in reality saving the school a lot of money in things that were previously wasted.”

Dave, what is your motivation to do this work in school? What is your personal journey to where you are now?

“Our school’s mission has always been to prepare our children for life. A key part of this is changing the key habits of children at a young age to question our use of materials and how we manage them, plus how we manage our waste. Personally, my motivation is via an interest in nature and science, thinking back to watching the Al Gore “Unbelievable Truth” video clips almost 20 years ago – and perhaps reflecting on the changes that have already been made, but need to be widened and accelerated moving forward. Getting our youngest citizens to be thinking sustainably is a key role for the education system.”

What advice do you have for other schools who want to improve sustainability in the school and curriculum?

“I strongly recommend an action plan empowered by leadership. This is the only way important changes can be fed down across the wider system and widened across all members of the school community.”

Year 1 enjoying a visit from an ecologist

“The risk of eco anxiety isn’t a reason to stop children thinking about how they use and dispose of materials and how they can be self-responsible. Taking steps can be empowering and the best way to avoid feeling powerless faced with the negative news around climate change.”