The UN Climate Conference (COP 30) is being held in Brazil from 10-21 November 2025. This is an opportunity for countries to update the world on their climate action plans to mitigate emissions. There is likely to be an important focus on nature and land use this year. At MCA Youth Action, we are hoping to introduce a trial Mini COP event for young people on one of those COP 30 days in November. We plan to hold it at Moorlands House where a number of invited organisations will offer information and activities that demonstrate what can be done to help the planet. Approx 50 young people from local schools will be invited with their class teachers to this Mini COP. In addition to the above, we aim to invite our young guests to have a voice themselves by participating in a Q&A session with representatives from the council and other organisations. We have asked for it to be held in the council debating chamber. The council have been very supportive of the idea and we look forward to seeing how this collaboration works for schools, the young people, the council and MCA. If it is successful we may be able to repeat it in 2026 on a larger scale.
Youth Action’s work with schools continues apace! MCA’s Mike Jones is now a trained volunteer member of Keele University’s Climate Ambassador Scheme. Mike is one of a number of climate ambassadors who are skilled DBS checked volunteers available to support local Staffordshire Moorlands schools to develop and implement their Climate Action (green) Plans. The Climate Ambassador Scheme is funded by the Department for Education (DfE), as all education settings in England are expected to have adopted this plan by 2025. If you are a teacher, governor or member of your local school’s PTA and would like further information about how a climate ambassador can help your school with its climate action plan, please contact Emma Baines at
Youth Action coordinator Sally continues to support several participating Leek schools to achieve ‘Plastic Free’ status and has so far had many successes! Also, several schools including Manifold School and Endon Primary School are aiming to participate in the RSPB’s Big Schools’ Birdwatch. Children spot and count the birds in their school within a short time period. Their uploaded results contribute important local data towards the national status of our birds.
Moorlands Wild Week 9-13 June Schools are currently being invited to take part in our 4th Wild Week where our brilliant volunteers visit schools to lead workshop sessions about our endangered wildlife and biodiversity. This provides fun, nature based activities usually outside the classroom. It is also vitally important, since research shows that children are losing touch with nature, along with the words that describe our wildlife and environment. We will be helping to re-introduce these lost words and to help children experience the real thing first hand. If you would like more information and/or would be interested in helping us to deliver a workshop session or two in a local school, please contact Sally or Moira on
Our annual youth art, photography and poetry competition will be launched at the end of June to coincide with the start of the Summer Holidays. Please let us know if you are able to deliver competition entry leaflets to your local school, youth club or would like one for your own child/children. Further details will be available in our next newsletter.
Last spring, over 363 young artists and photographers across the Staffordshire Moorlands, took part in MCA’s third Art Competition. We asked them to choose a wildflower that they liked, then to look very closely at the one they had chosen and either draw, paint or photograph it. We also asked that they identify their flower and tell us why they liked it and where it was found.
It was very difficult to choose winners from the wonderful range of entries we received. Ca0. Also to Manifold C of E Primary School, who enabled several classes to be involved. In Ipstones, one class at St. Leonards C of E school submitted lovely photographs of wildflowers taken in and outside their school grounds.
It was a pleasure to meet so many of the young winners and artists who came to our Green Arts Festival HUG at Foxlowe Arts Centre on 22 June. Here they received their certificates and prizes. The entrants ranged in age from 4 to12 years. We hope that through our competition, these 363 children enjoyed getting to know a little more about our lovely Moorland Wildflowers and can help to protect them in the future. Our congratulations to Izzy, the overall winner, with her beautiful daffodil drawing.
This spring, we held our annual art competition for children with the theme of flowers. The work was in four age ranges: 4-5 years, 5-7 years, 7-9 years and 9-12 years, Here are the winners! click on the picture to enlarge.
4-5 Years
5-7 Years
7-9 Years
9-12 Years
Visits to nature sites and school-based learning outside of the classroom are becoming a rare event in many schools that face constraints both on resources and curriculum content. Research shows that young children are losing touch with nature for many reasons, not least due to more emphasis on screen-based experiences and social media. This is having a detrimental effect on their wellbeing, plus their experience of and connection with the natural world.
For our third Moorlands Wild Week we wanted to help children explore and appreciate our wide open green spaces and the wildlife that they contain. Many children do not get the opportunity to independently visit the Nature reserves and beautiful places in their immediate or wider neighbourhood. Many hardly know or can identify the names of our trees, wild creatures or wildflowers, let alone appreciate the need for their conservation, so we were thrilled this year to have 200 children from three schools (Beresford Memorial First, Endon Hall Primary and Leek First) taking part.
Our volunteer team helped them to discover and identify a variety of wildflowers, bugs, and pollinators, some in their schools’ own green spaces, some at Tittesworth’s wildflower meadow and some at the Foxlowe garden in Leek.
Jojo is an inspirational young activist, who in 2022 was named Young Ocean Optimist of the Year by The Marine Conservation Society, despite having enough issues of his own to deal with. Here's a report from his Mum.
We adopted Jojo as a baby. He has Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder from being exposed to alcohol whilst in the womb, ADHD and a learning disability. Despite that, he's exceptionally intelligent and his brain works in a magnificent way. Just over 3 years ago, age 6, he was due to have surgery for a colostomy. Before he went into hospital, I asked him what he wanted to do before he went in, and he said "I want to save the oceans". He'd always had a love of the oceans, spotting sharks and dolphins in books from an early age.
Read more: Jojo – Young Planet Activist and Outstanding Litter Picker
- Advent Youth Action
- Schools, a Youth Club and a College
- Freshers’ Fayres
- Moorlands Wild Week 2023
- Spring Art Competition 2023 – Winners
- Youth Action News
- Spring Art Competition Entries
- Spring Art Competition
- Celebrating 100+ Young Climate Activists!
- Ed Daly - Young Climate Activist
- Family Activities at the Energy Fair
- Peter - Young Climate Activist in Leek