The Stan Kenyon School Challenge is longest running Leeds City Council corporate social responsibility project. These are the thirteenth annual awards. Over 80 different schools have completed the challenge and over 2000 school children have come to the Civic Hall to receive their awards over the years.
The awards were inspired by a former director of planning, Stan Kenyon, who retired in 1995 but is still active in encouraging young people to get to grips with local environmental issues and to come up with ways of making Leeds a better place for all its citizens.
Too hot to handle - the challange for 2008-9
Stan Kenyon has announced that his schools challenge for 2008-9 is all about climate change. The full brief and a bulletin on current progress are available as downloads on the right hand side of this page.
Leeds has a temperate climate. Not too hot. Not to cold. Not too dry and not too wet. But we all know that our climate is getting hotter. Scientists tell us that the current levels of production of greenhouse gases mean that it will continue to get hotter for at least 40 years – even if don’t emit any more greenhouse gases.
Can we think global and act local? Is there anything we can do to stop rain forests turning to desert or ice caps melting? What does it really mean for Leeds, for our schools and homes and for us – the way we live, eat and travel? How can we change our lifestyles to help reduce the emissions that cause greenhouse gases?
Stan is looking forward to seeing what schools come up with for their climate change projects. Please help spread the word. Any school requiring further information should contact Linda Banks on 0113 247 6421 or email linda.banks@leeds.gov.uk.
On the move - the 2007-8 challenge winners.
Last year the challenge was to design an environmentally and user friendly transport system that could improve the way we travel around Leeds. Eight schools completed the challenge and had their projects on display at the Civic Hall for a week and attended the awards ceremony hosted by the Lord Mayor in his banqueting hall.
Every school attending deservedly won some form of award and everyone present had a great time and enjoyed the buffet before heading home knowing what a good job they had done and how much it was appreciated. An illustrated booklet listing all the winners can be downloaded from the right hand side of this page.
All this was made possible by council staff giving up some of their time to help with the awards and by the support of our partners and sponsors. Special mention needs to be made this year to Metro for holding an open day at their headquarters which was visited by six of the schools completing the challenge.
We must also thank all the sponsors. Sanderson Weatherall, the property consultants responsible for bringing many new businesses to Leeds, for staying with the challenge throughout its history as the chief sponsor. And also K W Linfoot, one of the pioneers of city living in Leeds deserve much thanks for continued generous support. We also benefited this year from the support of the Institute of Transport Studies at Leeds University, Walton and Co and Walker Morris.