Great Marlow School is to host the first Marlow Schools’ Eco Conference, an interactive and educational day that will be attended by students from the thirteen schools in Marlow and the surrounding area.
The event, which takes place on 26th March, is organised in partnership with Sustainable Marlow, Marlow Town Council’s environmental initiative. The aim of the conference is to inspire and motivate Marlow’s school children to work together to tackle local and global environmental challenges.
The agenda for the day will be a combination of keynote speakers, interactive stands and exercises. Discussion topics include climate change, waste, litter, recycling, flooding, air quality and sustainable eating. One of the key objectives of the event is for the students to agree five key actions that all schools will work on over the next twelve months. Each school will send a group of students, with over 100 students expected in total, who will then be able to take the key actions, learnings and exercises back to their own schools.
The conference is supported by a range of national and local organisations including the Environment Agency, FourState, the Lunchbox Doctor, Marlow Energy Group, the Marlow Wombles, Refill Marlow, Releaf Marlow, Saddle Safari, Transition Town Marlow, Wild Marlow and EKO Home UK.
Kevin Ford, Headteacher at Great Marlow School, said: “Our future is in our children’s hands and we’re aiming to organise an event that they’ll remember for years to come and to inspire collaborative action. Our children are growing up with environmental issues in the news and the classroom and their passion is astounding. We want to harness that and get children of all ages working together to make a difference.”
Phil Irving, who leads schools projects for Sustainable Marlow, said: “Sustainability matters to Marlow’s schools. There is a wealth of activity under way and lots to celebrate. Students have been driving many of the environmental projects within their own schools. We hope that by schools working together towards common goals, even more can be achieved in the future.”
