• Team from Bootle’s Kings Leadership Academy Hawthornes victorious at Young Green Briton Challenge
• Their ‘Bouncepadz’ invention to receive investment from £4,000 prize fund
• Funding will help scale their idea and boost local impact
• Young Green Briton Challenge supported locally by Mayor Steve Rotheram’s Community Environment Fund
• Other creative climate change solutions included refillable biodegradable inhalers, school-wide wormeries, and waste transformed into lava lamps, bird feeders, and much more

Innovative pupils from a Liverpool City Region school have scooped a national prize for an invention to help tackle climate change.

Backed by Mayor Steve Rotheram’s Community Environment Fund, the team from Kings Leadership Academy Hawthornes in Bootle won over judges with their ‘Bouncepadz’ idea which uses kinetic energy to convert footsteps into electricity in high traffic areas.

TV presenter and naturalist Chris Packham CBE presented the Young Green Briton Challenge award at a special event at London’s City Hall yesterday, hosted by Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy Mete Coban MBE.

Chris Packham CBE (left) and Mete Coban MBE (right) with the Bouncepadz team from Kings Leadership Academy Hawthornes.

Young Green Briton Challenge is organised by the Green Britain Foundation with Community Interest Company, Social Innovation for All, and GenEarth CIC in partnership with Widnes-based EcoVida Routes.

The Young Green Briton Challenge organisers.

It was one of 18 schemes which successfully applied for a share of this year’s £350,000 Community Environment Fund (CEF).

They used £15,000 from the fund to engage with more than 800 young people from schools across the Liverpool City Region – helping them to put their ideas into action and running going educational workshops and Dragon’s Den style pitches.

The successful local schemes then went through to the national final.

Cabinet Member for Net Zero and Leader of St Helens Council Councillor Anthony Burns, who met the Bouncepadz team at the regional final, said:

“I am so delighted to hear that the King’s Leadership Hawthornes team was one of the winners at the event in London. This was one of the ideas that particularly fascinated me at the regional heat.

“They have represented the Liverpool City Region at a national level against schools from all over the country and I’m so pleased that our Community Environment Fund was able to support them in pulling together the prototype for them to showcase. What a brilliant idea to help us on our way to become net zero by 2035. Well done.”

Andrea St John, Principal at Kings Leadership Academy Hawthornes, said:

“Developing character and innovation through leadership opportunity is key to education at Hawthornes. It is integral to the mission of The Great Schools Trust. We are so proud of our pupils and what they have achieved excelling at a national level.

“They have worked so hard on this project, and it is so rewarding to see this acknowledged beyond the city. They are our sustainable workforce of the future, and we look forward to exploring what they will do next.”

Dale Vince, Founder of the Green Britain Foundation, said: 

“Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Young Green Briton Challenge. We created this initiative to give young people the opportunity and tools to tackle the climate crisis. The ideas we’ve seen today show just how much energy, and creativity the next generation has.”

Other climate solutions featured ranged from biodegradable whiteboard rubbers to biodiversity gardening clubs, from food waste wormeries to circular economy start-ups reusing waste before it becomes a problem.

Along with Kings Leadership, judges selected SustainInhale from Fairfield School for Girls in Manchester, Team Deforestation from Chiltern Academy in Luton and No Green, No Earth from Upper Batley High School.

They all secure a share of the coveted £4,000 prize fund up for grabs from the Green Britain Foundation.

Among those joining the competitors at City Hall were Youth Ambassadors Bo Cox, Eco Warrior from St Vincent’s School for visually impaired students in Liverpool and wildlife campaigner Bella Lack, a trustee of the Born Free Foundation.

Bo Cox, Eco Warrior from St Vincent’s School for visually impaired students in Liverpool.

The event also featured inspiring stories from previous winners, including the Fashion Frogs, whose upcycled uniform business has already saved hundreds of kilos of clothing from landfill.

Now in its third year since launching in 2022, the Young Green Briton Challenge has engaged over 14,000 students from more than 50 state and special schools across England – helping them turn learning into action and explore pathways into green careers.