The NEA training and education team have been working alongside Barnados to upskill young care leavers in energy efficiency and ensuring they are critical consumers in the energy market. This has resulted in our first cohort of young people successfully completing the Level 1: Using Energy in the Home course. The young people completed 5 modules and an exam to gain the qualification. A fantastic achievement and the beginning of a partnership with Barnados to ensure all care leavers have these valuable lifelong skills.
Our training team recently worked with Projects 4 Change in Newcastle who are working with vulnerable young people across the city, we visited their temporary headquarters to work with their ‘change makers’ to increase their knowledge around domestic energy efficiency and energy usage.
Our education team has recently worked with a Primary School in Kent, their Year 6 classes took part in our workshops on how to stay warm and avoid energy wastage, and they turned their learning into a poetry book that they sold locally for £3.00 each to raise funds for the vital work carried out by National Energy Action.
Our Education Officer Dean visited @QueensmeadGDFT in #Leicester to deliver a whole school assembly on fuel poverty and the importance of energy efficiency. Dean presented Principal, Liz Latham with the first-place prize for participating in our higher or lower online eco game. Over 120 students completed the quiz with Queensmead coming out on top of the leaderboard.
We are passionate about promoting the efficient use of energy and achieving affordable warmth at home. We all know that children are influenced by the actions of others around them – but we also know that children with the right information can play an important part in changing the behaviour of others in their homes.
Through the delivery of our education resources we aim to enhance the understanding of keeping warm and safe at home, how to use energy wisely and ways to reduce CO2 emissions.
Our package of education resources is developed and delivered in schools, colleges and universities by an experienced teacher, covering a wide range of topics and using a variety of learning techniques. All activities are mapped against the requirements of the National Curriculum and demonstrate progression across the key stages.
We have created online education resources to help primary school children become home energy experts.
Free downloadable assemblies
Key Stage 1 Assembly
Let’s keep warm
The assembly will explore what keeps us warm, warmth at home, and how being cold impacts our mood and health. It will use storytelling to introduce some ideas to the children about insulating their homes.
Key Stage 2 Assembly
Switch it off
This assembly will explore the different uses of gas and electricity in our homes, where this energy comes from, and the impact it can have on the environment. It will look at energy-related behaviour and what actions everyone can take to be more energy efficient.
Key Stage 3 Assembly
Energy equality
This assembly looks at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a focus on Article 25 ‘Everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living’. We link this article to the right to live in a warm and safe home, while analysing the cost of heating a home and using electricity. We look at the actions young people can take to improve energy efficiency and consider how they could support vulnerable people.
Workshops and lessons
We want our education work to lead to long-term change, therefore every school that books a KS2 or KS3 workshop with us will receive downloadable lessons to further support their curriculums. Lessons cover subjects such as English, Maths, Science, PSHE, Careers and Green Skills.
These resources will enable each school to build further upon the topics discussed in the workshops and, where possible, to turn the workshop into an ‘energy’ week focusing on the topic in more depth.
“The children loved the songs from the play and the whole class has been singing about saving energy all week!”
Key Stage 1 Workshop:
Keep warm, keep cosy
Using clips from ‘Hey, Piggy, Piggy’, our own performance-based take on the story of the Three Little Pigs, our resources introduce students in Years 1 and 2 to the kinds of materials that are useful insulators and offer early tips for keeping warm and safe at home. A range of supplementary resources gives schools the opportunity to build on the half-day classroom workshop, incorporating PSHE, English and science – all linked to the theme of energy awareness.
Key Stage 2
We have a choice of two workshops and various supplementary downloadable lessons available.
Our classroom activities for Year 3 to 6 students incorporate group work, discussion, and creative thinking. They focus on identifying fuel sources and how we use them in the home. They also look at gas and electricity safety in the home, provide energy-saving tips, and explore renewable technologies.
Lower Key Stage 2 Resources
“All of the activities tied in perfectly with our recent topic on Electricity, and offered the students lots of real life examples and advice.”
Workshop: Energy in mind
This two-and-a-half-hour workshop highlights the need to be energy efficient. The workshop outlines the production of energy and considers how this impacts the environment. Learners work out the running cost of appliances, consider dangers associated with their use of energy in the home, and explore the different uses of insulation to maintain warmth. They’ll also learn practical steps towards changing energy-related behaviours.
Every school that books a Lower KS2 workshop with us will receive a downloadable link to the following lessons:
- English – how can we be energy superheroes?
A writing opportunity that integrates energy, economic and environmental savings within a superhero story. - Maths – what can data tell us about our energy use?
A lesson that provides opportunity to present collected data around energy usage in a range of formats and highlights the need to be more energy efficient. - Science and PSHE – how can we be more Energy Smart?
This cross-curricular lesson focuses on energy use and the impact it has on the environment. It draws out energy-saving strategies and equips learners to play their part in creating a healthier environment.
Upper Key Stage 2 Resources
“Students really enjoyed it, it helped them to see how we can change our energy use in the future.”
Workshop: Let’s go green
A half-day workshop, which explores how renewable technology can be used to generate energy and have a positive impact on the environment. The workshop considers how different types of energy are used around the home, and links are made to the impacts that wasting energy are having on our environment. Using a collaborative approach, learners seek potential solutions and look for innovative ways to reduce our carbon footprint by becoming more energy efficient. Learning is applied through a task to design a device of the future focused on the use of renewable technologies.
Every school that books a Lower KS2 workshop will receive the following downloadable lessons.
- English: Why do we need to use energy in a sustainable manner?
An energy and sustainability poetry lesson providing a writing opportunity to integrate environmental issues related to energy use and how we can contribute towards a more sustainable future. - Maths: How can the cost of using everyday appliances influence our energy-related behaviour?
The energy consumption and costs Maths lesson integrates knowledge around energy usage and associated costs. Learners will follow formulas to work out the costs of running a range of appliances whilst also considering how they can reduce energy wastage - PSHE / Citizenship: How can renewable technology power our towns?
This cross-curricula lesson considers the benefits of making energy in a more environmentally friendly manner . Learners will explore different renewable energy-generating technologies before planning and building a sustainable Lego town.
Key Stage 3 Workshop
Net Zero: Why it matters to you!
This two-hour workshop analyses the government’s commitment to achieving net zero by 2050 and considers how these targets apply practically to young people in different aspects of their lives. The workshop will explore career options and includes videos and information from people working within these sectors. The young people will work collaboratively in small groups to apply their learning and design a net zero town before presenting their business plan to the rest of the workshop.
Every school that books a KS3 workshop with us will receive a downloadable link to the Empowering Careers lesson.
- Empowering Careers: Careers in the energy sector
This lesson will explore some of the different careers in the energy industry and will feature real people talking about their jobs and their career journeys.
Key Stages 4 and 5 Form Workshop
Watt’s Up? Understanding energy use and independent living
We have developed a problem-solving task – designed for use in PSHE or enhancement drop-down workshops – which focuses on saving and managing energy use in the home. Activities provide a basic introduction to energy awareness, including understanding fuel costs, reading and interpreting energy bills, and an overview of energy efficiency. Additionally, the workshop explores practical energy-saving tips, specifically for young people preparing to live independently. This engaging session aims to build essential knowledge for managing energy consumption effectively.
Our Year 13 students were challenged to think carefully about the problems of being energy efficient in shared housing, and the information they gained will really help them in future.”
University
We work with several universities, offering energy-efficiency workshops for students living in private rented accommodation, and providing energy awareness training through City & Guilds qualifications. This can offer students a crucial understanding of how to achieve a better standard of warmth in student houses, and how to manage ever increasing fuel bills.
Bespoke Packages
We also offer bespoke education packages for specific groups of young people, such as young carers, or to enhance specific aspects of the Key Stage 4 curriculum focusing on energy efficiency or renewable energy. Please get in touch to discuss how workshops and resources can be tailored to your needs.
If you are part of an organisation that would like to sponsor the delivery of any of these sessions in school, or if you are a school/college with funding to buy in curriculum support or enhancement activities, please get in touch with training@nea.org.uk