Young Green Briton Challenge

Earlier this year, Ruislip High School was chosen as one of a handful of schools to participate in a special pilot of the Young Green Briton Challenge. This new venture is a national platform to nurture, support and celebrate youth-led, school-based climate action. The challenge uses an adapted design thinking curriculum to enable young people to design entrepreneurial solutions to local climate issues.

During the Spring Term, Year 9 had the chance to investigate local community issues, as well as developing their understanding of key concepts of the climate and nature emergency. Year 9 also participated in a full day ‘Design Sprint’ with the Young Green Briton team hosting a series of workshops and activities to develop the students’ green skills, teamwork and social action. After a full day of workshops, the top 3 teams were then chosen to progress to the ‘Eco Dragons Den’. 

On Tuesday 25th April, the top teams pitched their ideas to local “dragons” Minal Patel, from Marketing by Minal and Jess Lee, from Hillingdon Friends of the Earth, alongside Ms Carstens and Mr Davies. The winning pitch would be eligible for a prize of £100 worth of funding to help turn their idea into action.

All three groups pitched their ideas to a very high standard, presenting the dragons with thoughtfully prepared proposals. Each team will now be teamed up with a mentor from the world of eco-business and social action to help guide and develop their ideas. Then, at the end of May, the school community will choose one winner to join the national competition - where they will be in with the chance of winning one of four £1000 investments for their project.

As a school we are incredibly excited about the opportunity and the potential impact this will have in fostering positive change in the local community. Well done to all of the Year 9 students who took part in the challenge and thank you to our dragons for their time and expertise!