As well as leading Young ACAN, Emma Jones is also sustainability lead at Bentley CE Primary School and has many years’ experience empowering young people to take climate action in several Hampshire schools.  Through her roles as Young ACAN lead and sustainability lead at Bentley, Emma’s work has been recognised by two national environmental organisations – WWF and the Ministry of Eco Education (MofEE).

Since 2024, Emma has been part of the WWF Teachers’ Panel and on June 6th was thrilled to spend the day at WWF in Woking learning and sharing with fellow environmental educators. She said, “I was beyond excited to spend the day at WWF and to meet and listen to such inspiring people. The work WWF does with schools for nature is so impressive and I am proud to play a tiny part in that by being on the Teachers’ Panel.”

The following week, Emma then travelled to London for a celebration event for Ministry of Eco Education Activators from across the country at Lush Perfume Library in Soho. The morning session was all about being inspired and as well as being able to share her work about Young ACAN, Emma also heard from other activators from around the country, gaining a real sense of community and collective action.  After a delicious vegan lunch, the MofEE activators were then treated to a glorious afternoon of poetry, music and comedy. 

Emma says, “I was one of 60 eco educators to receive a green ticket from MofEE inviting me to a unique celebration of our collective work in schools around the country.  Spending the day surrounded by like-minded people was really special and has given me such a boost, knowing that I am part of the most amazing community of people, all striving to make the world a better place for the young people who we teach.” To find out more about the work of Ministry of Eco Education, click here.  

Here is Emma’s speech about her success story as Young ACAN’s leader

“At the heart of my sustainability success story is the empowerment of young people in my community to take action for our planet. As a parent and through my eco work as a primary school teacher, I am hugely aware of how passionate children are about the planet. When I became a trustee for ACAN, I was keen to make education the primary focus of my work. So, in 2021 I founded Young ACAN and with a small group of young people from local schools set about making change through events such as our pop-up thrift shop and our first schools’ Eco Conference. 

“In 2023 I launched our schools’ partnership which has had the largest impact in my community with nearly all our local schools and colleges actively involved.  Sustainability leads from the schools meet every half-term and I also occasionally attend our heads’ cluster meetings to share our work with local headteachers.  As a network of schools, we work together, share ideas and empower our young people to take action for our planet. We also show them that collectively we care about their future which is really important too.

“This year our project is called “Treasure Not Trash” which focuses on waste. Our project has included many successes such as our repair café film for schools produced in collaboration with local film students at Alton College. However, it was our Treasure Not Trash conference in January which has had the greatest impact. Just over 80 students from 12 schools learnt about waste, enabling them to deliver assemblies in their schools to share vital messages about waste and the importance of a circular society with their peers. 

“I am hugely proud of Young ACAN and the impact it has in our school communities.  I especially appreciate working alongside other like-minded colleagues and collaborating to ultimately help secure a better future for the young people we all teach.”