Tower and Town, November 2019

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Editorial

For this month’s issue, I have had the pleasure of overseeing another collaboration between St John’s School, Marlborough and Tower and Town magazine.

As Extinction Rebellion and similar groups gather pace, our personal impact on the planet is at the frequent heart of conversation. Amidst mind-numbing statistics and an ever-increasing rhetoric of ‘impending doom’, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and pessimistic about it all. But as a teacher at St John’s, the attitude of our students - who care deeply about their planet - has been a constant glimmer of hope for me.

Over recent months, our school has been working hard to lessen the impact we are having on the environment; encouraged by the growth of activism and of political ‘switching on’ amongst our student cohort. The conversations I have with students in class and around the school continue to reveal a well-informed, motivated generation, proactively thinking about the challenges of climate change, plastic pollution and so on.

The focus of this month’s issue is our planet and I am very grateful to Tower and Town for empowering our students with a platform to stand on and be heard. Above all, I would like to thank our student contributors whose excellent work is a testament to the compassionate attitude our students have to the world around them; an attitude which inspires me on a daily basis.

Lauren Sankey