Waltham Forest Head Teachers’ Conference & Exhibition 2022

David Saddington

Influencing UK & international policy, fronting a pioneering climate media campaign on the BBC, Sky & ITV that reached over 3 million people and giving a TEDx talk at London's O2 arena are just a few of David Saddington's achievements as a climate change activist since experiencing a stark introduction to the impacts of climate change as a thirteen year old back in 2005. David is recognised as one of the UK's leading climate change experts. His first impact was working with the Prime Minister to add climate change to the UK school curriculum in 2007. He has since communicated climate change around the world by giving talks and media interviews. He has been recognised by the United Nations for his 'best practice' in simply communicating climate science. At only 25 he is energetic, passionate yet relatable when he talks about climate change. David is a well versed public speaker and lecturer who has spoken in schools across the UK, Italy and Hong Kong with ages ranging from primary to A-Level. He is capable of talking about climate change & associated issues to a wide variety of audiences and education levels. In addition to speaking David has blogged for media outlets like the Huffington Post, Buzzfeed and the Guardian. David talks about the science of climate (what is happening and why should we care) to the social impacts on our economy, health and society. In 2017 David was invited by the British Council to deliver an interactive lecture series in Hong Kong which told a very accessible story of our changing climate over the past 22,000 years. David also talks about; his own personal story in tackling climate which started when he was only 13, what we can all do to tackle climate and careers in the sector - as he works a consultant for governments and top brands. In 2017 he was presented with the WWF Earth Hour Hero award for his then 12 years of work tackling climate change.

Dr Paula Owen

Paula is a specialist in environmental sustainability, behavioural change and engagement, staff training, carbon measurement & reporting tools. She has near three decades of expertise in the environmental sustainability sector. She has a PhD in climate change atmospheric science from the University of Oxford. She is also the author of numerous environmentally related publications including a book on the Brent Spar oil platform crisis of the 1990s; numerous energy and carbon research reports commissioned by the UK government; a book on gamification for the sustainability sector. Mostly recently she published he first historical fiction – Little Brown Dog – which retells the true story of a controversial statue that caused riots and violent uprisings in Edwardian London. Paula has worked for a range of leading environmental not-for-profit organisations, charities, government departments and academic institutions. She was Project Architect for the award-winning UK Government’s Act on CO2 carbon footprint calculator. She has also assisted other organisations to produce carbon footprinting tools: Google UK; BBC – the Albert Carbon Calculator; the Pew Center on Global Climate Change; Bank of America; Energy UK and the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. In 2010 she established her own environmental consultancy, Green Gumption, providing advisory services, employee engagement training courses, research and authorship capacity and online educational and training tools to a wide range of well-known clients. The company specialises in creating and delivering education and behaviour change campaigns in areas as diverse as water saving, energy efficiency in schools, and air quality in cities. She is also the Founding Director of award-winning eco action games, a social enterprise company that invents and produces innovative and educational, engagement & behaviour change resources disguised as games for all ages. She was awarded the position of London Leader for Sustainability in 2012, a position awarded by the Mayor of London’s Office to individuals who are contributing to making London a more sustainable city. For the past decade Paula has been an Expert Evaluator for the Horizon 2020 EU Commission funding mechanism where she judges multi-million Euro energy potential projects on their eligibility for funding. She has been a judge for the Global Good Awards since its inception in 2015. From 2017 she has also been part of the International Jury that awards the Stockholm Junior Water Prize at World Water Week – a global competition for young adults from 16-19 - which takes place annually in Sweden.

Pete Cohen

Life Coach, expert in Human Behaviour, TV presenter and Business Coach, Pete focuses on the importance of having a strong belief in yourself and specialises in self help and personal development.

Peter Milne

Peter has had over 25 years’ experience as a teacher and consultant, working mainly in science, environmental, global citizenship and outdoor education in the UK, Malaysia and Dubai. As a speaker and facilitator for schools, Peter will share his expertise, passion and experiences to show students and teachers the why and the how to impact positive change towards a more sustainable future. Using highly visual and stimulating presentations and thought provoking and interactive workshops, students will gain a greater understanding of what sustainability is and a greater motivation and ability to empower change. Through the success achieved in the UAE, Peter founded Target4Green Educational Consultancy and Training Ltd upon his return to the UK in July 2015. In addition to working with many schools in the UK as well as globally, Peter has been a keynote speaker at the World Environmental Education Congress, resource/article writer and a regular workshop leader, including organising and running a 4 day seminar in Jakarta on Children’s Environmental Rights. This has since been developed as a course on the UK Government funded Global Learning Programme; strongly linked to Global Citizenship, and adapted as an in-school programme called Climate Change: From Causes and Consequences to Rights and Responsibilities. He has also developed the ‘Beyond COP21 Symposium’ series, supported by Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots and 350.org, which has already taken place 23 times in 11 countries( United Kingdom, UAE, Singapore, Kenya, Ghana, Kuwait, Peru, Taiwan, Spain, Vietnam and Jordan), with a further 14 confirmed for 2022 and 2023 in USA, UK, Canada, China, Georgia, Greece, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Egypt, UAE, New Zealand and Bahrain. Through this and other in-school initiatives, Peter has continued to support the post-Paris 2015 UN Climate Change Conference agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Peter is a board member of the Sustainable Schools Alliance and a member of UKSSD.

Poppy Flint

Climate Action Outreach Coordinator Families Directorate, Suntrap Forest Centre. Poppy is working across council departments to enable schools and colleges in Waltham Forest to develop relevant, impactful and achievable climate action plans which link learning opportunities, a culture of caring and practical works that will reduce carbon footprints, and the energy bills. Poppy holds a MSc in Education for Sustainability and is a passionate advocate for holistic, future-focused education. She has wide ranging experience in designing and running formal and (sometimes very) informal learning programmes for organisations including Thames21, Country Trust, SEEd and Waltham Forest based OrganicLea. She also leads her own social and environmental arts projects. Poppy is a non-executive director of an anti food organisation This Is Rubbish, focused on supply chain food waste and food justice, a LEEF (London Environmental Educators Forum) fellow since 2018 and very recently joined the South Grove Primary School Governing Board. She also campaigned for education as part of the solution to the climate emergency to be taken seriously by the Waltham Forest Climate Emergency Commission!

Stephanie Davies

Stephanie is Laughology’s founder and CEO. Stephanie has over 20 years’ experience working in the public and private sector which has gained her an unsurpassed reputation for designing and delivering laughter and humour interventions for young people and adults in various settings. Recognised as one of the leading voices in the UK on happiness, humour and laughter, Stephanie is increasingly in demand in the world of education and development. In the last 20 years, she has worked on community projects to enhance wellbeing and happiness, helped design spaces more conducive to learning and healthy living, used humour and laughter to communicate public health messages and is the founder of the Happy-Centred School programme. A programme that puts happiness at the heart of the curriculum and has seen schools who take part increase outcomes and results on every level. On leaving the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts in 2002 she began performing stand-up comedy, and is an award-winning comedian. Her years of experience on the comedy circuit make her the perfect speaker and presenter, with delivery that is witty and informative she has worked her way round some of the most prestigious events and venues including speaking at Whitehall,the world famous Gesundheit institute USA and recently sharing a stage with Dr Martin Seligman at the International positive education conference in Dallas. Stephanie has developed and advised on government initiatives to promote healthy communities and delivered long term solutions to building community relationships in challenging areas. The unique approach of Laughology founded and developed by Stephanie Davies looks at how individuals can be resilient human beings and live lives that flourish and are happy and healthy.