Schools blog

Solar Schools is a fundraising toolkit that helps schools to raise the money they need to install solar panels.

Solar Schools provides teams of staff, pupils and parents with the training and tools they need to crowdfund the cost of solar panels - cutting carbon, building communities, boosting budgets, learning new skills - and exploring energy and climate change in a totally new way.

Applications to become a Solar School are open until 29 May 2013

What are the benefits for your school?

Investing in solar cuts carbon and cushions schools against rising fuel costs. Plus, thanks to government Feed-in Tariffs which provide an income to anyone installing renewable energy, our Solar Schools will enjoy an additional boost to their budgets for 20 years. But Solar Schools brings far more than just finances:

• An exciting new way to teach pupils about energy by involving them in a positive, practical project that tackles climate change
• New enthusiasm for eco-work within the school
• Improved links with parents and local businesses and organisations
• Boosting the profile of their school in the local area
• New skills and confidence that can be applied to other exciting projects in the future.

“Fundraising for Solar Schools has unlocked the potential within our school community and identified that for many local businesses they were just waiting to be asked for help. This increased engagement has the potential to have a real long-term benefit for our school and we are delighted with the response that we have received.” Mary, Bursar

Explore the project and get involved

Or for more information contact hello@solarschools.org.uk

Until 3 May schools across the UK have a special opportunity to help more families prepare for disasters and emergencies.

As part of the Ready for Anything appeal, all schools fundraising donations will be matched pound for pound by the UK government.

Over 300 million people are affected by natural disasters every year. When a disaster hits lives are at risk, communities are wiped out and families lose everything. As well as looking at a community’s immediate needs, ActionAid looks at how to prevent similar disasters from having such devastating consequences in the future.

ActionAid has launched a series of learning materials on disasters and emergencies to support your school's fundraising activities.

Explore our work on Disaster Risk Reduction in the Powerdown climate change toolkit, where you can discover how flooding damaged four million homes in Bangladesh in 2007. The toolkit outlines the creative ways that communities are learning to build ‘flood-resistant’ houses and how children are learning flood survival at school.

Meet seven children from around the world and find out how they are learning to cope with extreme weather events in our Climate heroes case studies. This resource looks at children affected by climate change. Both of these resources are suitable for KS2 and KS3.

In our schools resource centre, you can also learn about how farmland is being improved following the East Africa drought, about responses to flooding in Assam and the floods in Pakistan in 2010, as well as how we have worked with communities following the Haiti earthquake in 2010.

Please start fundraising today to stop disasters becoming tragedies.

>> Download a Disaster Risk Reduction resource on the ActionAid website

I am truly a sucker for supermarket promotions!
 
Buy one get one free, 3 for the price of 2, better than half price, whatever, it draws me in. The result? An over-priced shop, with more food than I need that I inevitably end up throwing away.
 
Following the launch of the IF campaign and the shocking news that we throw away 2 billion tonnes of food every year, I was forced into a re-think.  Nearly one billion people go to bed hungry every night and two million children die from hunger every year – to put it in perspective hunger kills more people every year than AIDS and Malaria COMBINED.
 
ActionAid’s Global Emergencies Week provided me with a fantastic opportunity, not only to raise awareness of the issues surrounding global hunger in my local community but to also raise vital funds that help support some of the world’s most vulnerable people in the time of crisis. Global Emergencies Week also fell within ActionAid’s Ready for Anything appeal, which meant that every pound I raised would be doubled – it really was perfect timing.
 
Over 1.8 billion people live below the extreme poverty line – that is less than $1.25 (roughly £1) a day.  I decided to see if I could join them. So, armed with my crisp £5 note I set out to ASDA seeking smart price bargains.

I returned with one bag of pasta, one bag of rice, a carton of eggs, two tins of beans, two cartons of passata, 3 packets of instant noodles, a bag of carrots and some green beans.

The five days were tough, a lot tougher than I imagined. The meals were bland, lacking any real nutritional value. I found myself lethargic and feeling sickly. On one occasion I found myself looking blankly into my fridge, gazing upon all the food I craved but could not have. Thankfully, the support from my family and friends and the fact that the UK government were matching donations £ for £ saw me through.

The first meal after the challenge was a real treat. Good quality meat, with plenty of veg and even a fruit salad to follow. Not everyone is that lucky. For the 1.8 billion people living below the poverty line they must continually fight to survive. I am convinced, however, that we can make a difference and would urge everyone to support ActionAid in their constant mission to help some of the world’s most vulnerable people.   

Does a healthier diet, saving money or spending less time on Facebook feature in your list of New Year resolutions? Or perhaps you are more interested in supporting other people to change their lives?

A recent survey by LA Fitness reveals that one of our most popular resolutions this year is to ‘do something for charity’. Now surely that’s just as satisfying as giving up chocolate or going for a run three times a week!

If doing something for charity is one of your resolutions, then why not get your school involved and make 2013 the year that you fundraise for ActionAid? 

Think back to a charity event you’ve been involved in at school and how much fun you had. I remember being completely overexcited by a ‘Super Soaker’ event at my school, as the notoriously strict teachers volunteered to have soggy sponges thrown at them by young people eager for revenge!

Some imagination, a little time and lots of good will can create a memorable event that brings in the pounds! And we’re here to help you … well, unless you want to throw a soggy sponge at us!

Have a look at our 'Fundraise at school' page to see what your fundraising efforts can support, including one of our five Priority Projects. Whether it’s enabling children to go to school or their families to grow food, the money you raise makes a huge difference in helping people stand up for their rights.

We’ve got lots of free resources, such as balloons, posters and much more, to help bring your fundraising to life!

Whatever you decide to do, have fun and good luck. If you need any extra help, then feel free to get in touch with ActionAid’s Events team:  events@actionaid.org | 020 3122 0661

Now, I wonder whether there’s a way to do a ‘sponsored chocolate eating competition’. That was a silly resolution anyway …