Eco-friendly pupils on IFtL Youth Parliament vote to change the way schools recycle

A cross-trust pupil forum at Inspiring Futures through Learning (IFtL) is tackling sustainability head on as UK Parliament Week, a national programme of events and activities that connects young people with democracy, reached its conclusion last weekend.
By Phil SmithContributor
Published 17th Nov 2023, 15:11 BST
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Children representing 15 schools, who have been newly-elected on to IFtL’s Youth Parliament, have been discussing household recycling bin systems in Corby and Milton Keynes and their potential to influence behaviour changes in school.

At an initial meeting with IFtL CEO Sarah Bennett last month, Youth Parliament representatives agreed they would like to improve the way in which they can recycle in school.

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Children then wrote to their local council leaders to request their support in helping to change the way they recycle, proposing that each school should have separate recycling bins to sort all waste on site, removing the need for workers to have to source recyclable materials by hand.

Sarah Bennett (middle) and the IFtL Youth Parliament.Sarah Bennett (middle) and the IFtL Youth Parliament.
Sarah Bennett (middle) and the IFtL Youth Parliament.

Youngsters also shared their views on what it means to be part of the IFtL Youth Parliament. Each Corby and Milton Keynes primary school has representation from two Year 6 pupils, who have been elected by their peers for 2023-24. Infant schools are represented by Year 2 children.

The Youth Parliament is designed to empower pupil voice to support and inform IFtL’s organisational decision-making by providing leadership and action opportunities for our children on issues that are important to them.

“We thoroughly enjoyed our first meeting with this year’s Youth Parliament members and children from different schools across our family of schools had the opportunity to meet each other,” said IFtL CEO Sarah Bennett. “We discussed democracy and, as a starting point within an overall remit to improve sustainability and eco-matters, the Youth Parliament voted to change the way we recycle in schools. Pupils were clearly inspired for this change and agreed we need to look after our planet for future generations. We used UK Parliament Week as an opportunity to build momentum for the work of our Youth Parliament, and call for change.”

Children from the following Corby schools are involved in the IFtL Youth Parliament: Exeter School, Priors Hall and Woodnewton School.

Related topics:CorbyYoungsters