Nexus Fostering partners with British Gas Zero to hold a workshop for their young people.

Inspiring our future generations- Nexus Fostering partners with British Gas Zero to hold a workshop for their young people.

Young people and their carers from Nexus Fostering had the amazing opportunity to visit British Gas Zero Lab & Academy, the trip was part of our Young Persons Sustainability Co-Operative, an innovative new programme we’ve aligned with the Department for Education to help transform the career prospects of young people in foster care. "Young people are not included early enough in environmental policy making or design and are not provided with the educational tools or platforms for deliberation to engage more fully in the policy process" Department for Education Strategy and guidance from the United Nations

We are working to try and empower our young people with tools for the future, both for them and for our planet. Climate Change and the world around us can seem daunting at times and we want to do something about that. We have been working hard to find opportunities to educate and inspire young people to take control and find their place within this movement. We have previously worked and partnered with Formula E to provide an experience there and on the 17^th of August we held a workshop in partnership with British Gas Zero.

Kim is the director of British Gas Zero, in her role she is responsible for making sure that the biggest gas supply in the country is doing all it can to protect our planet whilst keeping our homes warm and phones charged. Kim was so excited about what we were trying to achieve across Nexus Fostering and presented us with an exclusive opportunity for our young people and carers to visit the British Gas academy and lab in Leicester on the 17^th of August.

Kim explains ‘Our mission is to help increasing numbers of people across the UK save increasing amounts of carbon and cost. We do this by installing technology in people's homes, things like smart thermostats, electric vehicle chargers, and heat pumps instead of boilers’.

During the academy and lab visit, our young people had a tour of the academy and learned about the latest cutting-edge technology. They learned about coding and how this links with sustainability and had hands-on experience charging a car as they learned about electric vehicle chargers and heat pump technologies and how this works.  They also created solar-powered kits to understand solar activity & energy storage. Whilst the overarching theme for the day was Net Zero, we were keen to link this back to education and how key skills in education (maths, science, computer science) place our young people in a really good position for a career in net zero skills.

Adrian, a foster carer from the West Midlands talks about the day at British Gas with his children.

’ I think it is important for the children to learn about Sustainability because it improves the quality of our lives, protects our ecosystem, and preserves natural resources for future generations. Watching the children get involved in the different activities that were provided, especially the solar house and pipe crimping tasks. British Gas staff were great and made them feel welcome, especially Kim. I was already thinking my next car would be electric, but after speaking to the team at British Gas it has made this a definite priority when choosing the next car. The children really enjoyed the day and loved helping Nick carry out tests in the research area. The children loved the British Gas polo t-shirt they received; it has gone into their memory boxes. One of the children said he still wants to be a footballer but if he can’t be he wants to work for British Gas.’

The aim of the day was to inspire our young people to think about the role that they can play in making a positive impact, not only on our climate and the environment but to people's lives, too. Over the next few months, we’ll be focusing on several key areas including climate action, green skills and careers, and championing education and learning as well as partnering with many more businesses to get inspiration and hands-on experiences.