Don’t suck: Help save the world

A Tale Unfolds help schools to triple literacy progress by providing high quality and highly engaging online projects using video. They provide step by step guidance on how to film using a tablet and simple apps, and offer class workshops and teacher training session which bring learning to life in the modern classroom.

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Of all the stories in the news at the moment, plastic pollution is one of the most shocking. However, the most shocking things about it has nothing to do with the visuals that we are bombarded with daily via the media. The most shocking thing about plastic pollution is that it is a problem, created by adults, that will affect our children so much more than it affects us.

As adults, we have turned a blind eye to plastic pollution and now the burden is firmly with the younger generation who will have to lead the clean up of our world from plastic. Plastic straws in particular are a needless, single-use waste of plastic which ends up being thrown away after an average of about 20 minutes - an incredibly short life cycle given that every plastic straw ever made still exists in some form to this today.

About time @theresa_may started tackling plastic. These 9-10 year olds started last year & got straws removed from their local pubs. Remember, these children could be our future MPs & PMs. Share & sign https://t.co/xesLtAi3UG #plasticfree #plasticpollution pic.twitter.com/vAcEZGQLDE
— Dom - ATU (@ATaleUnfolds) January 11, 2018

With the issue weighing heavily on their minds, a class of 8-9 year olds at Oxley Park Academy, Milton Keynes decided to do something about it using the Change It classroom resource pack. In their English lessons, the pupils studied persuasive writing and started writing to and conducting interviews with their local pub owners to ban plastic straws. To their amazement it worked, and the local McMullen's Brewery willingly agreed with their campaign.

Thanks to letters written by Barn Owls, The Prince George, Tattenhoe has stopped using plastic straws & have replaced them with paper ones! pic.twitter.com/pvPLoeXD27
— Oxley Park Academy (@OPAcademy) November 6, 2017

Spurred on by this success, they used this momentum to start a petition on Change.org to ask the UK Government for a ban on plastic straws using the hashtag #strawssuck.

The petition is currently about to pass 6,000 signatures, but this group of young changemakers is focused on getting the petition debated in Parliament. For this, we need 100,000 signatures, and so we are asking for your help to sign and share their petition.

Check out our year 4/5 #strawssuck and year 6 #homesnotspikes campaign mini videos @ATaleUnfolds https://t.co/P0ML0JmQX6
— Oxley Park Academy (@OPAcademy) October 19, 2017

We believe that this petition is a small-but-important step in letting our young people know that they have the right to demand changes which will improve their environment. This petition will be handed to Michael Gove, secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs in June 2018.

Visit bit.ly/strawssuck and help make a change today. Be sure to get your school involved with the Change It classroom resource pack - currently free-of-charge: www.ataleunfolds.co.uk/shop/change-it.

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