Blog Archives - Solutions for the Planet

Blog – Warm buzzing of excitement and anticipation…

Jen - S4TP16th November 202116th November 2021BlogLeave a comment

On Monday 1st November we welcomed Aurora Basso, the second of our newly appointed Big Ideas Programme Coordinators, to the Solutions for the Planet team, read more about her first two weeks below.

As I write this, I am sitting on the train on the way to my first Big Ideas Day. I am filled with a warm buzzing of excitement and anticipation. How will the day go? What wonderful and creative ideas will the students come up with?

Blog – From Marking to Solutions

Matt29th October 202116th November 2021BlogLeave a comment

On Monday 11th October we welcomed Matt Ronayne to the Solutions for the Planet team, read more about his first two weeks below.

What a whirlwind!! I started as a Big Ideas Programme Coordinator based in North England two weeks ago and the time has flown by. This is a career change for me, and I already feel confident in saying it was the right choice.

Blog – Earth Day System Reform

Sarah19th April 202120th April 2021Blogclimate change, Sarah@S4TP

I’ve wanted to write about post-pandemic education for some time now, and then I saw Earth Day 2021 was coming up and thought I should write about Earth Day too. Then, when I started reading about Earth Day’s origins, I realised I could write a piece about both themes because they are intrinsically linked.

Blog – Lessons learnt through Lockdown

Jen - S4TP19th April 202120th April 2021BlogJen@S4TP, lockdown

As we gently ease out of lockdown, I’m looking forward to spending more time with friends and family, picking up some of my old hobbies, buying some new (or, in my case, charity shop) clothes, getting a haircut and lots more. Still, it’s also crucial to cast our minds back and reflect on our lessons learnt through lockdown. The Solutions team share our lessons learned each week in our team reflection meeting, and if I were to list all of them, we’d be here all day; we have learnt a lot! This reflection is going to be the somewhat big picture.  Continue reading

Blog – ShowTheLove at Solutions for the Planet

Jen - S4TP17th February 202117th February 2021BlogAbout us, climate change, Jen@S4TP

I’m passionate about people’s relationships with each other and with the planet. As many have said before me, we only have one earth and we need to look after it. So, how do we go about effecting the biggest change we can? I believe finding common ground, especially on issues that affect all of us, is the key to building partnerships that can have a big impact. And no ground could be more common than the ground we stand on! That’s one of the reasons why our Big Ideas Programme, focuses on sustainability. It provides a space for young …and older people from businesses and schools, corporates and communities to creatively collide, share knowledge and skills, and to think big. The benefits of this are gifts that keeps on giving.

Blog – What mentoring young people has taught me…

Jen - S4TP12th January 20213rd February 2021BlogBusiness Benefits, Jeremy@S4TP, Mentoring

Before coming to work for Solutions for the Planet I worked for one of our previous Business Partners and mentored on the Big Ideas Programme for four years. I found the mentoring experience unbelievably rewarding, personally, as a professional and as part of my career. Here I’ll talk you through some of the benefits of mentoring that I experienced.

Blog – How do we highlight the climate crisis during a global pandemic?

Sarah26th October 202017th February 2021Blog

We might have expected that concern about the climate crisis would have gone down since the COVID-19 pandemic started – surely people have enough immediate concerns without worrying about the climate too? Yet this report, from the Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) centre, and based on two nationally representative surveys, reveals some interesting insights. Just click on the image to have a read.

Blog – Measuring Impact in Terms of Starfish

Sarah28th September 202012th January 2021BlogImpact, Reflection, Sarah@S4TP

Every Monday morning we have a team meeting on Teams – we’re a tiny-but-mighty organisation with 4 core team members, and we work remotely, so we’ve been having video meetings long before COVID19 dictated the ‘new norm’. Each of us takes a turn at chairing the meeting, and part of that role is to do a 15-minute ‘introduction’. This is an opportunity to share something with the team for interest, amusement, action or reflection, and is a great way to kick-start our week.

Blog – Big Ideas 2020 – Reflections and Celebrations

Jen - S4TP21st July 20207th January 2021BlogClaire@S4TP, Jamie@S4TP, Jen@S4TP, Reflection, Sarah@S4TP

Our first ever Virtual Big Ideas Competition 2020 is drawing to a close – 645 pieces of work were submitted; over 150 students from over 20 schools continued through the lockdown; more than 60 incredible mentors and judges were involved; and 7 live online regional finals were held! As an organization we are so pleased to have created a space, albeit virtual, for such incredible hope, positivity, collaboration and action at such a difficult time for the world. The S4TP team reflect on the last few months below, whilst looking forward to celebrating ALL the teams involved at the live-streamed ‘A Night With Big Ideas’ event on Thursday, August 6th, 17:30 – 19:00: Continue reading

Blog – The Phoenix Rises – adapting to 2020

Jen - S4TP5th May 202017th February 2021Blog

When I arrived back from my three week holiday at the beginning of March I had a strong feeling that the business I would be leading over the next few months was going to be a very different business to the one I left.

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