Yesterday, students from OX14 LP schools attended the first Youth Forum of its kind to discuss ‘Decarbonising Abingdon.’ Hosted by Abingdon School as part of their Eco week, 46 students from across the town joined together  to discuss their ideas along the theme of ‘Think Big – Act Local.’ Students broke into smaller working groups to discuss topics such as biodiversity, waste, transport and student engagement and leadership. They shared ideas to come up with key challenges and priorities for their schools and the partnership. Local experts from industry and education joined the groups to hear their ideas and support their discussions. Material from this forum will be used to create a Youth Manifesto and will be shared in a student led debate with a local MP later this week. Key outcomes were those of the need for a cross curricular approach to climate change education and a real desire for students to be involved in the promotion and leadership of environmental change in their schools. The main focus of discussion was at a local level but the ideas presented are far wider reaching and powerful than that, experts agreed that these messages could be used as an example for other schools and at a national level. Watch this space!