Being a close follower of environmental news, I was keen to see how Glasgow's COP26 climate conference would pan out. As a teacher, I also wondered how the event and the hope that came with it could be highlighted to my young students.
Children will be aware, albeit to varying degrees, of the wide range of extreme weather stories linked to climate change to hit the news agenda, and maybe that human actions in the form of burning fossil fuels are to blame.
It's scary stuff and it's hard to teach. However, educators have a responsibility to help children understand what's happening. How can we present the facts without instilling climate anxiety amongst pupils?
This is a very real issue, as an international study into the phenomenon, led by the University of Bath and funded by online campaign group Avaaz, outlines.
10,000 young people across 10 countries were asked about their thoughts and feelings on the issue. It found that 59 per cent of 16- to 25-year-olds were worried or extremely worried about climate change.
But school aged children are also effected.
Research conducted by the BBC's Newsround, which polled 2,000 8 to 16-year-olds in the UK, revealed how nearly three-quarters worried about the state of the planet. One in five admitted to having a bad dream about it.
It strikes me that children need a more empowering, hopeful story around climate change in order to reduce feelings of despair. We need to acknowledge their worries, provide scientific explanations and then show how the adult world can take - and is taking - meaningful action.
COP 26 was a chance to highlight to children that the climate emergency is not being ignored and that solutions are being sought.
I planned, alongside my fellow sustainability coordinator at school, a trio of lessons to make the point. The lessons were taught by other teachers in the school with slide shows we designed, using the freely available resources from Twinkl as a start point.
The first lesson focussed on basic climate science and what COP26 was. The children learned how the conference aimed to bring countries together to report on their progress cutting emissions and hopefully come to agreement about further cuts.
But we wanted to go further and help children understand that they can make their voices heard and demand more from politicians.
This in mind, the second lesson invited pupils to enter an international competition run by UK-based Trust for Sustainable Living in partnership with Conservation Without Borders.
The challenge was to create a video message to world leaders and governments on "the need for climate action and driving a green revolution". We ran the challenge as a "house competition" and received a decent number of entries, which were used as a basis for the third lesson sharing and celebrating the children's work.
The winning entries were selected for entry into the international contest, and one of our pupils received special commendation from the judges.
Overall, we hope we've helped children see COP26 as a chance for adults to work together to solve our climate problems - and that young people can and should demand that adults rise to the occasion.
If any children in our care have feelings of climate anxiety, then this knowledge - and the opportunity to speak out - may foster a sense of hope within them for the future.
I was delighted to see my article summarising the project published by Tes Magazine.
