Runnymede Borough Council have funded the delivery of interactive environmental workshops for Great Big Green Week using LEGO elements for primary and junior schools in the borough.
Synopsis
Since 2022, Runnymede Borough Council has supported the annual Great Big Green Week, a national initiative celebrating community action on climate change and nature protection each June. To engage young people in the week, from 2023, the Council have funded the delivery of interactive environmental workshops using LEGO elements for primary and junior schools in the borough, partnering with local supplier Brickies Club.
From delivering two workshops to 50 students in 2023, the initiative has gone from strength to strength, with 51 workshops delivered to an estimated 1,530 students in 2025 and incredibly positive feedback from all involved.
The challenge
Educating young people on environmental issues is critical to creating future societies of sustainability conscious citizens, but accessing them and providing this education in a truly engaging and positive way to promote action is a huge challenge. Finding a way to deliver this through schools provides the access needed to a diversity of students in the local area within an educational setting.
However, finding the right person to contact within schools, fitting any sessions within the requirements of the curriculum, and limiting the barriers to schools taking part by ensuring opportunities are funded and easy to set up are all significant hurdles that need to be overcome to deliver successful environmental education as an external party.
The solution
Great Big Green Week is a national initiative that the Council has engaged with since 2022, and forms a great springboard through which to engage across the borough on environmental action. During the second year of the Council's engagement, a Surrey-based company called Brickies Club was identified by officers as delivering interactive and creative workshops using LEGO elements, which young people are familiar with and excited by, for students from KS1 to KS3, exploring various topics including sustainability.
The sustainability workshop aligns with curriculum topics, starting with a brief presentation on what climate change is and why we need to act, followed by a building challenge where students were asked to build an eco-house with key sustainability features, such as renewable energy sources and biodiversity gardens. Students work in pairs and are encouraged to be as creative and imaginative as they like with their builds.
Due to the planning for 2023 not starting until March for delivery in June, only two schools were available to take part, and each received one workshop funded by the Council in their school. However, so positive was the feedback from these that there was a great desire to continue funding the initiative in future years. With additional resources added to the climate change team and engagement with schools on the workshops starting in October 2023 for the following June, the project expanded to six schools and 531 students for 2024, and further to 13 schools and 1,530 students for 2025.
The Mayor of Runnymede attended many of these workshops, which brings an additional buzz for the school and a chance for another party within the Council to see the initiative in action.
The impact
Each year, the schools that take part in these workshops are provided with an evaluation form to help improve the initiative for future years. The positivity of the feedback is incredible. Every school that has taken part have rated the workshops as 5-star, all 'Strongly Agree' with the comment that "Our students enjoyed taking part in the workshop" and all 'Strongly Agree' with the comment that "We have had positive feedback from students and/or teachers on the workshops".
Schools' feedback that there is an amazing buzz and real excitement created by the sessions, and this provides a crucial springboard to furthering their own environmental work and progressing with certifications such as the Green Flag award. Aligning with Great Big Green Week has enabled some schools to run events throughout the week alongside the environmental workshops, such as Meat-free Monday, Thrifty Tuesday, and Wildlife Wednesday.
Further, the feedback received regularly states that students who typically find education in a traditional school environment difficult become so engaged with the creative and interactive workshops and schools are thinking about either working with Brickies Club again or finding ways to bring the creativity showcased more into their teaching
How is the new approach being sustained?
The Council must continue to support Great Big Green Week and fund the Brickies workshops to maintain the approach. Demonstrating the positive experience through school and encouraging elected members to attend sessions is key to ensuring support for the project continues and that early approval to engage is received. Funding is a central element of sustaining the initiative, and the Council have utilised an internal Youth Development Fund and external Councillor Community Fund in previous years to keep the initiative going.
Early engagement with schools to understand how much funding is sought is again critical to success here. A key approach for sustaining the initiative is to ensure regular engagement with key school contacts on sustainability-related topics and a demonstration of the Council's climate leadership.
As part of the Council's 2023/24 climate communications plan, an anti-idling campaign was run with schools, which helped to maintain the relationship between the Council and schools which supports the ongoing success of the environmental workshops.
Lessons learned
Early engagement and providing funding are critical: without early engagement, the reach of the initiative is likely to be limited by schools' already very busy schedules and inability to find time in the calendar. Similarly, school funding is limited, and therefore, initiatives that are funded and clearly aligned to the curriculum are the most likely to be taken up.
Aligning with a national initiative improves reach: aligning with Great Big Green Week has been immensely valuable in providing credibility for the education programme, giving a clear understanding of when and why the initiative is taking place, and enabling the schools to run other activities beyond the environmental workshops focused on sustainability.
A strong delivery partner is essential: without the delivery of workshops provided by Brickies Club, this case study simply would not exist. Since the first year of the initiative, Brickies Club have been a wonderful partner to work with and provide fantastic flexibility in their approach for both the Council and schools. They adapt to what the schools need and find ways to bring in new elements to keep the sessions engaging, such as building an eco-school in 2025 rather than an eco-house.
Consistency is key: the workshops have been running for the last three years with expanded engagement each year, which says that the project has been successful in both keeping the interest of those that have engaged and consistently finding new schools to take part. Keeping the initiative going and continuing to support Great Big Green Week means more people will hear about what's happening and show an interest in getting involved.
Focus on positivity and get the students excited: without this, the potential success of environmental education is greatly limited. The students absolutely love taking part in the workshops because it is fun, engaging, and encourages educational play using something they are all familiar with. By focusing on the positive elements of what can be done rather than just the negative impacts of unsustainable practices and climate change, it inspires optimism and excitement.