Our second event of this academic year occurred just after COP30, which was held in Belem, Brazil. Some of our friends from the Kambeba indigenous community in the heart of the Amazon were there at the time, so we were also keen to share their experiences, messages and key takeaways with individuals here today.
Whilst our new stance is still aimed at Key Stage 2 pupils, particularly those in Year 5 and Year 6, it is a slightly shorter and more cost-effective version to make it inclusive and accessible to schools. On board today were Cottesmore St. Mary Catholic Primary School in Hove, East Sussex (https://www.cottesmore.brighton-hove.sch.uk/) and Hugo Meynell C of E (VC) Primary School near Market Drayton in Staffordshire (https://www.hugomeynell.co.uk/). Marcella joined us virtually from London as well.
After formally welcoming and introducing everyone, I made use of Digimap for Schools (DfS) (https://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/) to locate us all (never miss an opportunity to enhance place and locational knowledge).
Next, I shared the aims and format of the session.
Our first task was to challenge any misconceptions that pupils had. We asked them what they thought Brazil was like and where they believed the Amazon was located. Some interesting comments were added to the chat feed. We then played an animation, which the children watched intently: https://stepintotheamazon.co.uk/resources/
Next, it was story time! Marcella and I had worked together over the summer to create a picture book with limited text and various questions posed to the audience, entitled ‘A day spent with the Kambebas‘. The images were all taken by Marcella during her two visits to the indigenous community and are superb; she is a very talented photographer/photo-journalist. The children were clearly absorbed. When I asked them a question, many hands shot up in their classrooms. Teachers gathered responses from the pupils in their class and typed them into the chat feed.
It was then time to ‘hot seat’ Marcella. The children posed some great questions directly to Marcella, which she answered both confidently and comprehensively. I was also able to add a few comments as well; acquired knowledge from our regular contact with the community, both online via Zoom and through communication using WhatsApp and e-mail.
Unfortunately, on this occasion, we were unable to secure a stable internet connection with the Kambebas. However, as promised, we said that we would share photographs of Chico and Taissa’s experiences at COP30 via this blog post. How lucky she is at just 15 years old to have been involved in several children’s COP events and what a convincing, confident and inspiring young activist she has become!
I then set a writing task for the children to complete after break. This aligned strongly with the foci of the 2025 Writing Framework; quality over quantity and the integration of tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary into writing.
I projected an example (a WAGOLL) and emphasised its strengths (how I had met all the sentence challenges and included a number of key words within my succinct response).
Teachers were asked to later select the best pieces of writing from their class and send them to us for inclusion in this blog post. Some of these can be viewed below. I think you will agree that they are rather impressive!
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Finally, teachers were requested to complete a short online feedback form with the children so that we could capture some staff and pupil voice; this is important to us at Step into the Amazon as it enables us to perfect our workshop content and delivery.
Some of their ‘concluding comments’ can be found below:
World-class; educational; sophisticated; adventurous; important.
Interesting; informative; fun; inspiring; incredible.
Thank you so much, Emma and Marcella!
Our next virtual multi-schools event will take place on Tuesday 27th January 2026. See social media feeds for further details or contact Emma Espley directly to reserve another specific date (emma.espley@gmail.com).