We are on a mission to power up the world’s Changemakers.
Our Dirt Is Good Project will help 10 million young people take positive action for a better world.
Join us in unleashing the potential of children to do good!
Read our 2-page overview to find out everything you need to know about the programme
The Dirt Is Good Schools Programme is a free programme which empowers students aged 7-14 to unite in compassion and take action on the social and environmental causes they care about, whilst also working towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The programme provides teachers with a free toolkit of engaging resources, interactive session plans and an overarching framework designed for Key Stage 2 and 3 that will guide their students through the process of uniting in compassion with their peers. The Dirt Is Good Schools Programme is based on four key principles, with all materials designed using insights from the latest research into what motivates young people to take action. You can read more about the research behind the programme here, including how the programme can help to narrow the Values Perception Gap in young people.
Once registered online, schools can deliver the programme using the resources available by following these steps:
1. Engage the whole school community by using our ready-to-go assembly packs including:
· Values
· Global Goals
· Our Earth
Register now to find these Assembly Packs in ‘Educator Home’.
2. Deliver the programme with a group(s) of Changemakers using the following resources:
· 9 lesson plans & complementary worksheets
· 17 Global Goals factsheets
· A series of video resources to support you and your Changemakers
Set up your ‘Changemaker Group’ once registered to find all these resources in ‘Group Home’.
3. Unite in compassion with Changemakers across the world
Share project updates and stories to help normalise taking collective action for young people and to spread the word about the positive impact your Changemakers are making.
Explore The Good Stuff to get inspiration from Changemakers taking action across the world.
Share your own Project Updates via the ‘Our News’ tab once you have set up your group.
Support your students to unite in compassion and get stuck into taking action on the causes they care about:
- Student led: empower students to show leadership by taking real-world, collective action on the issues they care about
- Quality resources: access a free toolkit of quality resources for Key Stage 2 and 3, plus an online portal
- Collective action: Enhance collaborative skills and cohesion amongst students and build confidence through bringing together groups of young people to get stuck in on a project
- Focus on values: help embed a culture of compassion, care and cooperation at your school, improving well-being and reducing eco-anxiety in young people
- Cross-curricular: Designed to be cross-curricular and utilise collaborative, project-based learning to support global citizenship education
- A global movement: join a global movement reaching 10 million young people
The Dirt Is Good Project: Case Studies
The Dirt Is Good Schools Programme inspires and enables young people across the world to take action on the causes they care about. Below, you can find some examples of projects created by Changemakers in the UK.
PROJECT GROW
BENFIELD HIGH SCHOOL, NEWCASTLE
A group of 12 & 13 year olds from Benfield High School in Newcastle, had the idea of growing fruit and vegetables to provide healthy options for use within school and to provide for people in the local community.
The project soon progressed as a way to reduce CO2 by reducing the transport miles of food, raising awareness of where food actually comes from and how it grows.
Gardening, tree planting and plant identification are just a few of the skills these young people developed. The biggest impact, however, was with the young people’s confidence and true friendships formed with others on the project.
Young Changemakers in the field, putting their skills into practice - planting trees!
Students have worked to restore derelict greenhouses so that they can be used by all in the school.
our planet matters
ormiston forge academy, birmingham
Young people at Ormiston Forge Academy split into three Dirt Is Good Groups to work on tackling litter, poor air quality in their school, and also mental heath and period poverty.
The first group felt inspired to be creative with litter, and turn it into something beautiful. These young people ran litter art workshops and hosted a final showcase to inspire others at their school in the hope of reducing litter in their local area - all while forming great friendships along the way!
Students worried that there were not many plants in or around their school and wanted to do something about this. These young people decided to write a letter to an office plant supplier who responded and offered to run a session for many students and provide some plants for the school. Over 40 teachers now have house plants in their rooms and are already feeling the benefits of better air quality and beautiful surroundings!
The final project group wanted to focus on more social issues, and were particularly keen to address mental health and period poverty in the school. They decided to order a range of sanitary products and organised with the school cleaning team to have these displayed for anyone in need to use in the school bathrooms. They also included items like deodorant so that everyone would benefit.
To tackle mental health, they decided to order a range of fidget toys, mindfulness colouring books and coloured pens and run a sale of these items. The money they raised was donated to the mental health charity ‘Mind’, which they chose so that their project would also benefit the mental health of others beyond their own school population.
sustainability cycle
foxhole primary school, cornwall
Year 5 students at Foxhole Primary School designed their own sustainability cycle to grow and sell food and flowers to their local community. Community members worked with the school, donating wooden pallets for the students to make into planters to grow their seedlings.
The students have also engaged with other year groups in their school, encouraging them to spend more time in this green space which is “beneficial for the neuro chemicals in their brain.”
Through this project, the children developed their knowledge of plants, furthered their understanding of where food comes from and used their creativity to use recycled plastics as a host for their seeds.
_1920.png)
