We were introduced to the school's Climate Action Plan as part of the training days this week.
It came together during the summer term, ahead of a DfE deadline for all schools to have a similar plan and also a Sustainability lead within the school. It was put together by the 'Green Team', and there was input from the geography department.
We are making sure that climate related content is very much embedded across our curriculum, with some specific units as well as mentions of climate impacts on other aspects of what we teach: food security, the Fens, inequalities, water security etc.
There is a suggestion that climate and sustainability will play a bigger part in the draft curriculum which we hope to see before too long.
Have you seen your school's Climate Action Plan - how are you going to help ensure that it comes to fruition?
I've waited a few days before posting anything about this event as it is an emerging event, and the scale of it, coupled with uncertainty about its origins was unclear at the time it happened - and remains so now, although high resolution satellite imagery is showing its dramatic impacts.
It's also entirely possible that students that some of us / you reading this may have a personal connection with the region and with people who have been caught up in the events.
There is also an element of avoiding blogging about such events when so many have lost their lives... while hazards are an area that geographers focus on because of the contents of exam specifications - or existing KS2 and 3 schemes, I try to avoid examples where lots of people have lost their lives.
There was a particularly harrowing video released early showing the Gyirong Port border crossing post, which satellite images reveal has been completely destroyed.
At the weekend, Kit Marie Rackley and Alistair Hamill recorded a special edition of the 'Espresso and Geography' podcast - available as audio and video version.
They examine the emerging physical geography of the disaster, the possible influence of a rapidly warming Himalayan climate, and why it is too early to attribute one complex event to climate change with certainty. The conversation also asks why some disasters dominate global attention while others remain largely unseen, and how teachers can discuss unfolding tragedies without turning human suffering into spectacle.
A respectful discussion about hazardous processes, climate justice, media representation, and keeping people’s experiences at the heart of geographical education.
Because this is an ongoing emergency at the time of recording and release, casualty figures and scientific explanations may change. These links prioritise official scientific information, peer-reviewed research, reputable reporting, and humanitarian support.and Geography' podcast.
As with any disaster (and there are no natural disasters), the big numbers we will see are all individual tragedies, impacting on thousands of families, schools, workplaces and friends of those who have lost their lives.
Alistair Hamill shared a link to this StoryMap earlier today, which is also a dynamic document.
Amongst the horror there were some positive stories. Rajendra Dawadi, the principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli secondary school in the Trishuli valley of north-central Nepal has been hailed as a hero by quickly evacuating his school and warning bus drivers to turn round - this reminds me of the Ukedo Elementary School near Fukushima, during the 2011 tsunami where teachers acted quickly.
I would anticipate some sort of fund-raising efforts once the new academic year begins too.
Featured as part of our Food for Thought unit with Year 7.
The Food Foundation has released a new research reportexploring the resilience of the UK to keep providing our ‘five a day’ given the heatwaves we have had this summer - not just in the UK but across Europe - and severe weather in other parts of the world.
The UK's plan seems to be that we just buy food from other countries rather than grow it ourself. Assuming that: a) the price doesn't go up massively and b) they are happy to keep sending us food rather than using it to feed their own populations.
Long term, that doesn't seem like a good idea... and not overly resilient.
Food security is national security.
Five of the UK’s nine most-purchased fruits can be grown domestically – including apples, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and pears – but the UK grows less than 40% of domestic consumption for four of those.
For vegetables, only carrots reach a high level of self-sufficiency (94%), while the UK could grow more of the vegetables most popular with British consumers, including tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, cucumbers, onions, broccoli and green beans, where only about half are produced domestically.
We currently import 80% of our fruit and 47% of our veg and the worsening climate and nature crisis globally means this reliance on imports poses a growing threat to our food and nutrition security.
KCSIE 2026 talks extensively about mental health, contextual risk, children potentially at greater risk, absence, information sharing, online harms, professional curiosity and whole-school safeguarding. Yet it still fails to name climate change as a foreseeable, context-shaping condition already affecting children’s physical welfare, emotional wellbeing, attendance, safety, learning environments and family circumstances.
Kit has stepped in and produced an illustrated set of guidance materials for DSLs.
As I enter the 2nd week of my school holidays already, I remember that some schools still haven't finished for the summer and next week sees another run of temperatures in the high 20s and low 30s.
My last week of term featured some very hot and uncomfortable temperatures in my classroom.
The guidance that Kit has produced (all free to use under CC license) includes scenarios to consider.
A heatwave is not automatically a safeguarding concern. A flood is not automatically a safeguarding concern. A drought warning is not automatically a safeguarding concern. A pupil expressing climate worry is not automatically a safeguarding concern.
But any of these can become relevant to safeguarding when they affect a child’s welfare, visibility, attendance, behaviour, safety, access to learning, home circumstances or mental and physical health. That is the point KCSIE misses.
Climate risks are not always safeguarding concerns in themselves. They are safeguarding amplifiers. They can intensify existing vulnerabilities or make hidden ones more visible: housing insecurity, domestic stress, poverty, food and water insecurity, transport barriers, medical vulnerability, SEND-related needs, sensory distress, caring responsibilities, absence from education, poor mental health, social isolation, exposure to misinformation, and unequal access to safe outdoor space.
Kit outlines why context matters here: both home and school.
She then provides a series of scenarios with illustrations and questions. For example:
What questions and decisions need to be made here:
The practical staff model can remain very simple:
Notice the context.
Respond proportionately.
Record factually.
Refer if concerned.
Review patterns.
That is KCSIE applied with context, and not an extra burden.
These resources should find their way into many schools - particularly those which faced difficult choices in late May and through June.
Each group will be tasked with imagining they work for a local weather office and have to make a poster to help people understand what to do to prepare for a specific extreme weather event and reduce its impacts.
This new Carbon Brief resource was once again the perfect timing for some work we are doing in school. It explores the impacts of warmer summers on schools and the performance of students.
Thus far, we have not had any prolonged periods of weather over 28 degrees C - the heatwave threshold for Cambridgeshire.
“In Greenland, we make all our money from fish and from tourism. For a long time, I have wanted to find something else that we can profit from.”
Malik Rasmussen
A surprising story in the Guardian on a new project, and one which has attracted quite a lot of criticism from some quarters.
Its co-founder Malik V Rasmussen said the ice, which has been compressed over millennia, is completely without bubbles and melts more slowly than regular ice. It is also purer than the frozen mineral water usually used in Dubai’s ice cubes.
From the LinkedIn page
Imagine having the purest and freshest ice in the world straight from the untouched glaciers of Greenland. Nature has formed our ice over millions of years with no pollutants or contaminants. Once harvested, it is immediately packaged and shipped to ensure the highest quality for our customers. Our ice can be used for cooling drinks, preserving food, creating beautiful ice sculptures, and more. By purchasing our ice, you will enjoy its exceptional quality and support sustainable and ethical practices in our harvesting process.
