Category: Education

Behind the scenes of Haf GwyrddNi, talented pupils, young people and local artists have been busy exploring nature and the climate emergency through creativity. Through music, drama, dance and film-making, younger generations have learned about the environment and shared their ideas in fun and inspiring ways. These projects demonstrate how creativity can help foster a deeper connection with nature and give young people the confidence to make a difference in their communities.

Ysgol Bro Llifon

The pupils of Ysgol Bro Llifon worked with Siôn from GwyrddNi and artist Gai Toms on a creative project focusing on local nature. As part of their learning journey, they visited the Groeslon allotments, where they received a warm welcome from Brian and Nerys, two local residents who shared their knowledge and experiences.

During the visit, the children learned about the importance of growing local vegetables, fruit and plants, and how natural spaces allow wildlife to thrive. Particular attention was given to the vital role of bees in the life cycle and the positive impact they have on food, flowers and biodiversity.

Inspired by what they had learned, the pupils worked with Gai Toms to create a song, rap and dance celebrating bees and flower pollen, as well as creating colourful costumes to bring their ideas to life. Their creativity went even further as they filmed a funny news programme, S4G, with memorable characters such as Bob ap Rhiwbob and Llifon ap Nionyn presenting the news in a fun and educational way.

The project came to an end with a special celebration at the school’s Summer Fair on 2 July, where families had the opportunity to see the children’s performances and enjoy the fruits of their work. The enthusiasm and pride was clear as the community celebrated everything the pupils had achieved.

Follow the link here to watch the news programme and their amazing song:

Ysgolion Creadigol 2026 – YouTube

Ysgol Gynradd Llanrug

The pupils of Ysgol Gynradd Llanrug worked with artist Liam Rickard on a creative project combining music, creativity and campaigning for change in their community. The aim of the project was to give the children a voice in calling on the local council to transfer a piece of unused green land near the school so that it could become part of the pupils’ playing field.

At present, the land is unused, and the children want to see more nature in their school environment rather than concrete surfaces. As the number of pupils increases, the need for more space to play and learn outdoors is becoming increasingly clear. The project was also an opportunity to foster a sense of belonging and show the children that their voices and opinions can influence decisions that affect their lives.

Under the guidance of Liam Rickard, the pupils composed a song and protest rap, learning how to use melody, rhythm and powerful vocabulary to express their feelings and build a clear message. Together, they created a three-verse rap and song reflecting their passion for seeing more green spaces at the school.

Their ideas went beyond music. The children created artwork, drawings and letters to the local councillor to support their campaign. The pupils’ enthusiasm was so strong that some continued the work at home, creating more drawings and messages to support the cause.

The project was displayed at the school’s Summer Fair on 2 July, and the pupils hoped to send their songs, drawings and letters to the local councillors. Their wish was that decision-makers would listen to the voices of the future and consider creating more green spaces for the benefit of present and future generations.

Since the project came to an end, the local councillor has allowed them to have part of the unused land so that it can be transformed into a green space for the pupils. This shows that the voice of the younger generation is powerful and can have a positive impact on climate action in our communities!

Follow the link to watch their protest song: Ysgolion Creadigol 2026 – YouTube

Ysgol Uwchradd Dyffryn Ogwen

At Ysgol Uwchradd Dyffryn Ogwen, 14 Year 8 pupils volunteered to take part in GwyrddNi’s summer project. The group was full of enthusiastic and forward-thinking young people, eager to use their creativity to inspire positive change for nature and the environment.

Working alongside musician Gai Toms, the pupils composed an original song and created their own proverb – “Hadau Heddiw, Dail Yfory / Today’s Seeds, Tomorrow’s Leaves” – expressing the idea that the actions we take today shape the world that future generations will inherit.

Their creativity went beyond music too. In collaboration with artist Steven Willis, the pupils designed a unique logo for the project, and the proverb was printed on white T-shirts, creating a powerful visual symbol of their message.

As part of the creative process, a group of pupils visited Coed Meurig to gather inspiration. While walking through the forest, they reflected on the contrast between the busyness and noise of the nearby town and the tranquillity of the natural world. These experiences were used to inform their ideas and creative work.

The project ended with an exhibition of the T-shirts and a performance of the song at Neuadd Ogwen, where residents of Bethesda had the opportunity to see and hear the young people’s message. The event was a celebration of creativity, collaboration and the power of young people’s voices in raising awareness about caring for our environment.

Watch some of the pupils’ rap on YouTube using the link below, and keep an eye out for original poems coming soon:

Ysgolion Creadigol 2026 – YouTube

GISDA and Cyfle

A group of young adults from GISDA and Cyfle worked with artist and musician Liam Rickard on a project combining creativity, nature and community. The group came from different areas across Gwynedd, with each individual bringing their own unique talents and skills to the project. Through collaboration, they succeeded in creating something truly special, carrying a powerful message – “Everything – people and nature – is connected.”

Using the path between Plas Glyn-y-Weddw and the amphitheatre as their canvas, the group have been creating a series of natural art installations for visitors to enjoy. Natural and reused materials were used, including willow, moss, stones and recycled materials, to create work that blends naturally into the landscape and encourages people to look more closely at the world around them.

One of the highlights of the project is a moving poem written by one of the participants, Hayley, reflecting on the impact of losing trees during Storm Darragh. The intention is to create a wooden bench using old trees that were destroyed during the storm, with the poem displayed on a canvas on the back of the bench. The striking bench and poem transform loss into a lasting symbol of hope, recovery and connection with nature.

Looking to the future, the group are also keen to create an insect sanctuary along the path, contributing to the area’s biodiversity and creating a green legacy that will benefit wildlife and the community for years to come.

GwyrddNi’s Creative Schools project is a wonderful example of what is possible when creativity, collaboration and care for nature come together. It shows that everyone, regardless of their background or age, has the ability to make a positive difference to the environment and the communities we share. A huge thank you to all the partners, schools and local artists for supporting and collaborating on such an important and moving project.

The Ysgolion Creadigol GwyrddNi (Creative Schools) project has been supporting young people in our areas to communicate creatively about climate change.

Year 7 and 8 pupils of Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen decided they wanted to make a big “splash” – which is why they decided to take their message to the Bethesda Carnival – performing short plays and creating an impressive float to carry as part of the parade.

The pupils spent time decorating their lanterns and banners with Manon Prysor: we saw a huge fish full of plastic, and also Spongebob and Patrick came to complain about the quality of their home! The young people also wrote and practiced their plays under the guidance of the actress Angharad Llwyd.

During planning it became clear that the young people were concerned about pollution, waste and damage to the natural world, sea and rivers in their local area – and that they wanted to raise awareness about the importance of doing something.

“It’s disgraceful how much plastic people throw into the sea,” said Lloer, year 8. “I hope people realise how bad this is for the world and try to change the decisions they make.”

“I hope people from the community will learn to respect the world better,” said Nest from year 8.

The pupils had another small surprise before the big day – Heno wanted to do an item on the pupils’ work, so they had the opportunity to have their say in front of the whole of Wales!

Here’s a video about the process, createed by Rhodri Williams:

More about Ysgolion Creadigol GwyrddNi:

As part of the Ysgolion Creadigol GwyrddNi (Creative Schools) project, pupils at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle have written three original songs with musician Gai Toms, and created Llyfr Gwyrdd Nantlle (the Green Book of Nantlle). At Ysgol Dolbadarn, pupils created a piece of visual art with Katie Ellidge, with Femke van Gent creating a piece of art showing their visions for a bright future for the Dyffryn. And something exciting is happening at Ysgol y Moelwyn with Buddug Roberts – go to Gŵyl y Glaw, Blaenau Ffestiniog to find out more!

The Ysgolion Creadigol GwyrddNi (Creative Schools) project has been supporting young people in Dyffryn Nantlle to communicate creatively about climate change.

Last November, we made an open call for artists, poets, storytellers and all kinds of creative practitioners who wanted to collaborate with local schools to help young people convey their climate messages.

The pupils of Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle chose to work with the musician and author Gai Toms, and we are delighted with their creations: three original songs and Llyfr Gwyrdd Nantlle (the Green Book of Nantlle).

Llyfr Gwyrdd Nantlle

You may be familiar with Manon Steffan Ros’s powerful novel – Llyfr Glas Nebo (the Blue Book of Nebo) – which is set in a very dark future in Dyffryn Nantle. As an antidote to this message, the pupils decided that they wanted to create Llyfr Gwyrdd Nantlle (the Green Book of Nantlle): a collection of art, poetry and positive visions for the future of the valley, as well as warnings about climate change.

Click on the book cover to read it as a flipbook, or click here to view it as a static PDF.

Listen to the pupils’ original songs here:

Film

Here is a short film about the process by Hedydd Ioan:

More background

Gai Toms started by taking pupils from years 7-12 for a walk around their habitat with the local historian, John Dilwyn, so that they could gain a better understanding of their history and local wildlife.

This clearly sparked a passion for the young people’s local cynefin, as well as their creativity!

Through June and July, pupils got busy writing, drawing, composing, singing and recording three new songs with Gai. The young people made a lot of amazing artwork, a newspaper article, a short play, and paper mache sculptures – and much more – as well as the three original songs – Cwm y Cerrig, y Llithr a ir Llethr and Pigavo, which we feel capture the true spirit of the project.

“Even though we’re young people, we can do something about climate change,” said Cadi from year 10. “It’s our future – and even if nobody else does anything about it, we can.”

The hard copy (original) of Llyfr Gwyrdd Nantlle will be available to view in Yr Orsaf’s café, Penygroes, over the summer holidays.

As part of the Ysgolion Creadigol GwyrddNi (Creative Schools) project, pupils at Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen got involved in the Bethesda Carnival: creating a float for the parade and performing a series of short plays. Pupils at Ysgol Dolbadarn created a piece of visual art with Katie Ellidge and Femke van Gent, showcasing their visions for a bright future for the area. And there is something exciting coming from Ysgol y Moelwyn with Buddug Roberts leading… stay tuned!

GwyrddNi also works with Schools in our five regions (Dyffryn Nantlle, Dyffryn Ogwen, Pen Llŷn, Bro Ffestiniog and Dyffryn Peris) to teach children about their habitat and the climate – as well as about possible solutions. We then support them to bring their ideas to life through projects, such as creating a wild garden or mapping their habitat. Contact us if you want GwyrddNi to work with your school!

Are you: An artist? A musician? A poet? Animator? Writer? Playwright? Dance Practitioner? Storyteller? A Filmmaker? Game maker? Crafter? Or any other type of creative practitioner? Or a group of any/some of these?

*Please note: the ability to communicate in Welsh is essential for this commission.

Can you work with children, young people, and schools – and with the community?

Do you believe in the power of communities to respond to the challenges they face?

Would you like to help children and young people to discover and communicate message(s) about the climate to their community?

If so, this is the commission for you!

We are looking for a practitioner/s or group/s of creative practitioners to collaborate with school children in GwyrddNi areas to create along the theme of ‘Community Climate Action’.

CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR BRIEF, which explains much more and explains how to apply. Please note this brief is in Welsh as the ability to communicate in Welsh is essential for the role.

In a nutshell: What you create together will contribute to local climate action by sharing a message with members of the local community. The voice of people within their communities is central to all of GwyrddNi’s work, and therefore the voice of the children will be central to what that message is and how it is conveyed.

As well as working together with the children to create the ‘final product’, the creative process you facilitate will help them find their voice and their message about the theme in question (in some schools the children have already started this work). We are open to any creative exercise that can contribute to reaching this goal.

When? The work will take place between now and the end of June (factoring in the recruitment process, joint planning, training and delivering the work).

Pay: We offer £300/day. There will be 5 days of work attached to each area – meaning £1500 per area. We work in 5 areas in total – you are welcome to apply for the work within one, several or all five areas.

Closing date for applications: November 29th 2024.

How to apply? Read the brief – all the details are there!

Over the first two years of the GwyrddNi movement, hundreds of children and young people from GwyrddNi’s areas contributed their ideas to Community Climate Action Plans in each area. The children’s aspirations and ideas had a considerable influence on the action plans, with several areas of action having developed directly from their input. You can read about this here: https://www.gwyrddni.cymru/en/education-programme/
Not only was it good for the children to be part of the process; their participation was key.

With GwyrddNi’s Community Action Phase underway, it was time to adapt our education work to reflect this. After discussing ideas with several teachers, we have decided to offer to schools:

• An interactive climate session (in two parts) which creates opportunities to understand climate change and its impact, discuss our feelings about it, understand what we can do, and start planning actions to tackle the climate challenge.
• Visits to local (and beyond) climate solutions
• Opportunities for the children to develop their community ideas and implement them. This can be a ‘one-off’ action or a more long-term and comprehensive project

The children’s enthusiasm has been clear during our sessions, especially as they set out to gather ideas and decide how they would like to go about responding to their areas’ climate action priorities.

Here is one story that gives a taste of what has been happening so far:

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Ysgol Rhosgadfan – Mapping habitat and learning about nature
By Siôn, Dyffryn Nantlle’s facilitator

It is a pleasure to be able to work with local schools on small solutions to climate change, and this year we have held sessions for Ysgol Rhosgadfan and Ysgol Bro Lleu.

In Rhosgadfan we worked with years 3,4,5 and 6. The one-day climate session was a good starting point to build on the children’s understanding of what is changing in the climate, and how we can respond to it locally.

The school has a food growing garden and polytunnel on site, as well as a a regular gardening club, so the children’s understanding of growing food was already amazing. However, the climate session enabled them to place what they are doing in the school garden in a wider context.

Afterwards, we went on an excursion around the village looking for interesting things in the natural world, and created a large map from the perspective of a bird flying high over its habitat, with the things collected on the trip and wonderful pictures from the children on it. We saw primrose budding, all kinds of birds singing and several interesting plants such as unrolling ferns and small yellow gorse flowers, with the heather among them. We want to build on this map to add food such as blackberries, apples and cooking plums as well.

Pictures: The children going to visit Yr Ardd Wyllt (the Wild Garden) and helping to build a fence!

One of the teachers said: “After going for the walk, the children ask a lot more often about the names of things like plants or insects, and point out the ones they learned during the session.”

The children are also very keen to support nature as well as being able to grow their own food, so in the new year we want to start work on establishing wild flower meadows on a piece of grass opposite their garden. They came down to Yr Orsaf’s Ardd Wyllt (wild garden) to start their research and identify wild flowers such as meadowsweet and gennel, and even found a lizard living in the shade of one of the apple trees.

The children’s ideas are so original and innovative and I am looking forward to continuing from September onwards.

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While things have started to gain momentum with primary schools, we have been busy developing a suitable session for secondary school pupils. We have trialled this at Ysgol y Moelwyn, Blaenau Ffestiniog, where the school’s enthusiastic young people have been actively developing ideas, and are ready to act!

We will also collaborate with schools to develop local climate resources for the classroom. We are also actively developing education offers for adults, in order to raise awareness and to empower groups by increasing skills and having other learning experiences, in order to enable us to act in our communities. More information on the way soon!

If you work within a school in one of GwyrddNi’s areas and are interested in our education offer, please contact Sara (sara@deg.cymru), our Education Officer.

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GwyrddNi is a community-based, community-led climate action movement that brings people together in five areas of Gwynedd to discuss, share and act locally to tackle climate change. 

If you want to be part of co-creating greener, more sustainable and resilient communities – get in touch – or click the button below to let us know how you’d like to be involved. We will get back to you and connect to you to most appropriate person/people!