The Carbon Detectives’ Kit (www.carbondetectives.org.uk) is a tool that enables pupils to work with their teachers and other adults to measure the carbon footprint of their school, to set targets to reduce this footprint, and to develop and implement an action plan to reduce their school’s carbon emissions.

This short training pack is written for those who wish to introduce the Carbon Detectives’ Kit to colleagues in their school or to teachers in other schools. The pack contains a number of activities in the form of a workshop that will provide:

  • An introduction to the idea of a carbon footprint and how it can be used to support the development of sustainable schools.
  • An opportunity to try out the carbon footprint calculator.
  • A chance to discuss how you can support pupils in using and making the most of the Carbon Detectives’ Kit.
  • Ideas on using the Carbon Detectives’ Kit to support curriculum work.
  • Suggestions on the use of carbon footprints as a management tool for improving environmental performance.  

What the activities in this pack do not do is to provide a conceptual background to sustainability, the sustainable schools initiative as a whole, or other wider policy issues. It focuses simply on the effective use of the Carbon Detectives’ Kit.

Our aspiration is that pupils will be excited by the idea of being Carbon Detectives, and that they will be the stimulus for introducing the kit into their school and that they will form a Carbon Detectives Team to lead the process.

However, to make best use of the kit and measure the school’s carbon footprint the Carbon Detectives Team will need the help of a number of adults in the school, and not just teachers. School managers who keep records of energy consumption will be asked to provide copies of electricity and heating bills. Schools ground managers will be called upon to help measure the amount of waste a school produces and count the trees planted. The school catering staff will be asked about the food purchased. The Carbon Detectives Team is also likely to need the help of adults outside the school including officers from the local authority.

The activities have, therefore, been designed for a 90 minute workshop aimed at the adults in a school who will support pupils and is focused largely on trying out the Carbon Detectives’ Kit itself.


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