Pupils at Ballard School have proved their commitment to tackling climate change.

Children at the independent school in New Milton have taken part in two national climate change conferences in recent weeks, with their feedback going to leaders and thinkers on the front line of the UK’s climate change response.

Jamie Craft and Patrick McCabe, both in Year 10, joined Tomorrow’s Engineers Week Schools COP Summit on 13 October – a national summit designed to explore ways engineers can help achieve net zero emissions.

They were among just 50 other pupils from schools around the country exploring how engineers are at the heart of addressing the climate crisis. The pupils heard from inspirational engineers at the forefront of work to address climate change and then joined discussions, hosted by broadcaster Fayon Dixon and former BBC presenter, Susan Bookbinder that mirrored those being held at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow.

With each attendee focussing on an area of interest, such as protecting wildlife or motivating young people to be more eco-conscious, they brainstormed ideas and talked about how engineering can reduce the carbon footprint of the UK, and how they themselves can help work towards net zero.

Patrick said: “I think it is important to give school children a chance to voice their concerns and ideas for climate change, and for them to be put forward to MPs and global leaders.”

Jamie said: “It was a great opportunity for me and other young people to express ideas about climate change, and to hopefully influence leaders’ decisions about global warming in the future. Hopefully this will encourage the school community to consider its effects on the environment more and allow us to set an example for other schools and communities.”

In addition to this, a group of Year 7 and 8 pupils joined another online conference, sharing ideas with pupils from around the country at the first Votes4Schools, Youth Advisory Board meeting of this academic year.

Votes For Schools is a national body which aims to seek out and amplify the voices of children from around the country and make sure their views are heard by leaders at the highest levels. It’s Youth Advisory Board (YAB), made up of groups of pupils from schools around the country, discussed climate change at the October meeting, and their collective ideas and beliefs will be presented at the COP26 conference.

Teacher, Mr Alex Bellars, who facilitated the session at Ballard, said: “This topic was clearly very important to our pupils who all took the opportunity to make clear, well-argued points. At one point I was even worried that Ballard pupils were in danger of monopolising the Zoom meeting, so keen were they all to speak.”

Mr Bellars will be leading another group of pupils in the future YAB meetings scheduled for February and June.

Headmaster Andrew McCleave said: “It has been fantastic to hear about our pupils making their voices heard – their passion and commitment to making the world a better place was evident and exciting to witness.

“For our pupils to have the opportunity to contribute and be heard at important events like this while at school is the first step in becoming the people that will act and shape the future for all of us. It is inspiring to see them stepping up so ably now.”

Ballard has launched many eco initiatives, including the introduction of beehives and chickens, a Terra-Cycle waste recycling system and reusable water bottles to prevent the use of single use plastic. This week there was a focus in school on what is happening at the current COP26 conference with much debate discussions including an assembly lead my Mr McCleave – ‘Will this be an historic week for the future of the world?’