World’s Largest Lesson comes to HSD!

Yesterday and today, pupils throughout the Junior Years have been taking part in the World’s Largest Lesson, an annual United Nations event which aims to ensure that every child grows up knowing and caring about global goals for Sustainable Development and how they can take meaningful, local action to achieve them.

Launched in 2015, the initiative provides an opportunity for pupils across the globe to learn more about the UN’s own Sustainable Development Goals, which seek to transform the world by 2030 by aiming to eliminate extreme poverty, reduce inequalities and combat the threat of climate change. 

As part of the lesson, children in L1 therefore looked through their Global Goals glasses to picture the world they would like to see in 2030, while L2 explored how to protect the natural world by looking at recycling, rubbish and litter. Pupils in L3 discussed the idea of fair access to resources and their sustainable use, while L6 examined the impact of biodiversity loss with a focus on the Amazon Rainforest.

The World’s Largest Lesson now has participation in 130 countries, with 8 million young people having taken part in the 2018 event.

The Junior School chose to sign up this year as part of its efforts towards earning the UN Rights Respecting Schools (RRS) Gold Award.

L6 teacher Lisa Carrie, who leads the Junior Years RRS work, said, “As a Rights Respecting School, it is hugely important that our pupils are able to access their right to voice their opinion and explore ways to enact change for the future sustainability of our planet.

“I hope that is evident in the range of activities the pupils have been engaging with!”