New City College students embrace Green Week and get involved in Global Goals Teach-ins for the first time

A successful Green Week at New City College from March 20-24 followed on from students taking part in Global Goals Teach-ins for the first time – giving them practical ways to tackle the causes of climate change.

The Green Week activities included debates and discussions on the environment, workshops on reducing food waste, screenings of the David Attenborough documentary Frozen Planet II, conservation sessions looking at bugs and forest materials, a presentation on green career paths, a ‘pledge wall’ of sustainable development goals and a hands-on cooking class showing how to create tasty meals from leftovers. There was also a collection of non-perishable food items for various local food banks.

The aim of Global Goals Teach-ins is to raise awareness of sustainable development, particularly the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Learning about these goals prepares students with the knowledge, skills and attributes to tackle the challenges arising from climate change and other global issues. They were offered during tutorial sessions to all students in the college aged 16-18.

With 67% of young people aged 16-29 in the UK saying that they are worried about climate change, Green Week and the Teach-ins gave them a chance to learn how they can make a difference.

One student said: “Climate change is real. It’s happening all around us so it’s important we all do something about it. Green Week was a good way to raise awareness that we all need to pull together to protect the environment for every human and every animal who lives on our planet.”

Riikka Vihriälä, Group Head of Strategic Projects at NCC, said:

“We were pleased to be able to offer Global Goals Teach-ins for the first time this year. Since the launch of our Green Strategy in 2021, we have been working to increase our offer around environmental sustainability. Green Week was an important step on this journey and I hope we can make the Teach-ins a part of our annual offer for students.”

Providing students with access to courses on environmental sustainability is one of the focus areas of New City College’s Green Strategy. The College was commended by the AoC Beacon Awards for its work on Education for Sustainable Development in 2022. See the Annual Report 2021/22 for more information on NCC’s work on environmental sustainability.

In addition to Global Goals Teach-ins, New City College offers:

• Courses on green skills and low carbon technologies
• An online course on Climate Change and Environmental Awareness
• An A Level in Environmental Science