The Tick Zero Award is a STEM outreach programme aimed at UK primary and secondary schools. In 2019, the team behind Tick Zero delivered a national STEM outreach project, 88 Pianists, which culminated in a record-breaking performance. Children in primary schools across the UK were invited to design a mechanism to play a piano key from 6 metres away, which would allow 88 people to play one piano simultaneously. The winning mechanisms were built by our teams at participating UK universities and the final performance was featured in news media across the world, including BBC’s The One Show, Newsround and National Geographic.
What is a Tick Zero school?
If you see the Tick Zero Award logo on a primary or secondary school’s communications material, it means that this school has met the criteria for excellence in climate mitigation by:-
- ensuring that all students and staff have access to climate education resources created by our team;
- having regular contact with the Tick Zero team to fact-check and update lesson plans and resources;
- demonstrating a strong commitment to infusing climate awareness into the existing curriculum;
- nominating a member of staff to be their Tick Zero Climate Champion who has completed the award training course, developed by researchers at The University of Cambridge;
- allowing students to participate in several practical Tick Zero Workshops per year and submitting resulting entries to our annual competitions.
Tick Zero schools can:-
- work with our researchers to develop lesson plans, including Powerpoint presentations, worksheets and multimedia;
- access our existing pool of lesson plans and other materials;
- connect with other educators in our forums to share ideas, feedback and resources;
- utilise our unique zero-emissions calculator, developed in the Use Less Group at the University of Cambridge, as well as its associated resources;
- take advantage of at least two half-day expert-led engineering and design for sustainability practical workshops per year, delivered by our fully-trained Tick Zero Ambassadors from Cambridge, or another UK University;
- enter students our national engineering design competitions;
- use the award logo on websites and communications;
- access advice and guidance specifically aimed at Year 9-11 students who have an interest in completing a Climate Awareness Professional Certification;
- receive support in running out-of-school Tick Zero Hubs, including activities related to reducing emissions in the school and wider community, and supporting local activism.
The 2025 theme for practical sessions and the national competition will be ‘Joy With Zero Emissions’.