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THE CLIMATE OF CHANGE FOR SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: STUDENT AGENCY = STRONG HEART. CLEAR MIND. DENISE LOFTS Denise Lofts is the Principal of Ulladulla High School. Ulladulla is a small coastal town in New South Wales, and this community was one of the most affected areas by the devastating bushfires in January 2020.
In 2019, I received an email from my School Captain: “Hi Miss, thank you so much for your support. Jade, Lachlan and I really appreciate it”. This ended an email chain where the School Captain, Takesa, an incredible young Aboriginal woman, told me that I could attend her speech that she would give to local government about their urgent plea for climate change letters advocating for policy change on the environment to be sent from the local government to the National Parliament in Canberra. In doing so, she was representing the Youth of the Shoalhaven, along with two other students from Ulladulla High School (UHS).
This speech was on the back of a ‘Change the conversation on Climate Change Rally”, held at Ulladulla High School on 15 March during lunchtime. While other students were missing school to attend climate rallies, our students clearly articulated their stances, not by missing school, but by ensuring the focus remained on the issues at school. This clear, succinct, mindful and deliberate protest by Takesa, and 300 of her fellow students, could not be ignored. The event was attended by our
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER | VOLUME 29: ISSUE 1 – MARCH 2020
local newspaper reporters, a local environmental action group, ‘Treading Lightly in the Mud,’ and local community representatives. This is only touching the surface of what the student environment council have done. They have undertaken a variety of environmentally conscious activities, ranging from removing plastic bottles to introducing composting across the school and establishing a community twilight market in the school grounds that sells local produce with a focus on sustainable processes. They have also advocated for bins to dispose of fishing lines to be located at our local harbour by the local government to protect our sea life, which are now present at our harbour. This type of agency is mirrored across many young people and schools. Student agency, I believe, will continue to influence the way in which we do business in our schools and beyond. How we are seeing student agency in response to climate change is unprecedented. Kids today are different from students only three or four short years ago. They are progressive, more informed, and passionate about issues globally and are taking action locally. This may sound somewhat clichéd, but mark my words, activism in our schools is alive and strong. UHS, along with many other schools around Australia, is proof of this. Catapult us to today, the summer of 2020, where our rural community has been one of the hardest
