Last term, all 5 pupils took part in the Green Tech Challenge. An initiative funded by IIC (Leeds Schools) Ltd and forming part of Growing Talent Digital Leeds. The challenge was designed to get all participating school students thinking about their school communities’ impact on climate change, and how they could utilize technology to reduce that impact. Each school took part in a full day session in summer term 2022, with the winners of each school challenge submitting a video presentation to a panel of judges.

The teams from Carr Manor Community School, Cockburn John Charles Academy and Co-op Academy Leeds then went on to open the West Yorkshire Innovation Festival at the ‘Young People’s Innovation Final’ and presented their ideas to a panel of local business leaders including Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire and Mark Roberts, Chair of the LEP. They also took part in a two panel, where they got to pose their own challenges and questions to the leaders present, and in turn the panel got to put their questions to the teams and gain some insight into the young people’s thoughts and feelings on a range of topics including innovation and climate change. 

The Mayor was hugely impressed with the students’ ideas and insights and promised to take many of them away for further consideration, particularly when speaking with local businesses about food waste and recycling. 

The pupils presented their ideas very professionally, clearly and concisely at the Yorkshire Innovation Festival. They were brilliant!