Scores of children - maybe hundreds - across Bristol are expected to walk out of lessons on Friday morning (February 15) and go on strike - in protest at Government inaction over climate change.
The ‘Youth Strike 4 Climate’ demo is being organised for 11am at College Green, with schoolchildren pledging to leave their classrooms and take part in the event.
Parents of younger children attending primary schools across the city are also understood to have told head teachers they intend to take their children out of class to attend the three-hour demonstration.
You can follow live updates on the protest here.
But the event has caused controversy over whether students will be allowed, or whether parents will face action for either keeping their children off school, or taking them out of lessons.
The event is part of a global movement inspired by the actions of 16-year-old campaigner Greta Thunberg in Sweden.
An estimated 70,000 pupils in 270 cities across the world are expected to take part.
Friday is the last day before the half term holidays for pupils in Bristol, and young people on the Facebook event page for the protest have discussed whether they will go to school and then walk out, or not attend at all.
The event raises questions for schools and parents about attending - mainly around safeguarding issues for pupils who try to walk out unaccompanied, and whether parents will be fined for unauthorised absence for letting children attend or even taking their children to the demo.
Bristol Live understands that a number of schools, faced with a mass walkout of pupils, have reacted in different ways - some warning pupils they will not be allowed out, with others, like Bristol Cathedral Choir School telling parents that, while their children will be marked down as an ‘unauthorised absence’, no action will be taken against them for it.
UPDATE: Hundreds of kids turn out for strike on College Green
Paul Atkins, the head of the Cathedral Choir School, said the school will ‘respect the individual decisions’ of students and parents over whether they attend.
“The event has not been coordinated with schools,” he told parents. “Nor do we yet have a central point of contact with organisers, or stewarding, or programme.
“It is not manageable for us to allow large numbers of students with a range of ages to leave school during the day, plan for all contingencies, and return from the College Green protest whilst continuing to run the school and being accountable for their safeguarding,” he warned.
“It appears to have been below the radar with all the other Bristol schools whom I contacted on Monday morning. Indeed many students have been unaware of the event,” he added.
Some schools are organising for teachers to accompany students who have indicated they would like to attend the protest.
Organisers of the protest globally have advised that no child under-16 should attend the protest unaccompanied by an adult, but it seems likely that teenagers will leave school or go straight to College Green instead of remaining in lessons.
The protest is set to last three hours on College Green from 11am to 2pm.
Given the vagaries of teenagers and social media, it is difficult to assess how many children will attend.
While only around 100 people have said they will attend on the organiser’s official Facebook event page, it is understood that hundreds more have indicated their plans to attend on other social media more widely used by teenagers, including Instagram and Snapchat.
Fi Hance, a Green councillor whose own two children are attending, said: “It’s impossible to tell how big or small this will be, but all of my children’s friends are going - in fact I don’t know anyone whose children aren’t attending, so it could be big.”
Greta Thunberg has argued that there is little point the next generation learning science if the world’s leaders don’t act upon the climate emergency scientists are warning about.
A UN report warned world leaders had until 2030 - just 11 years - to radically cut back the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, after which it would be too late to save the planet from global warming.
Bristol City Council passed a motion declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’ last year, but the Labour administration has come under criticism for backing the expansion of Bristol Airport.
Green Party group leader Eleanor Combley has two teenage children who intend to attend.
“This action is a credit to Bristol’s schoolchildren,” she said.
“While so many of our politicians and leaders are hiding their heads in the sand our young people know that we are in a climate emergency and we must take action now.
“We have just 12 years to avoid catastrophic climate change, and the terrible impacts that will have on our children and grandchildren. Adults are failing future generations and this must change.”
'I know that it can be hard to condone rule-breaking'
“As a parent myself I know that it can be hard to condone rule-breaking in our children and young people, but there are times when their voices must be heard.
Cllr Combley called on Labour Mayor Marvin Rees to decree that parents should be allowed to take children out of Bristol’s schools, or guarantee that no parent would face sanctions for their child taking part in the strike.
“According to the Department of Education, children are only authorised to take days off for ‘exceptional circumstances’,” she said.
“With a climate emergency declared in Bristol and just 12 years to cut CO2 emissions by 50% I stand by all those parents and teachers who believe these are ‘exceptional circumstances’ and are supporting pupils to take this action,” she added.
“I have also written to the Mayor of Bristol asking him to support Friday’s strike and help head teachers and parents in providing the safeguarding needed to enable young people who want to join the strike to do so safely,” she said.
“If we want our children and young people to be active citizens and participate in the political process, we cannot then dole out punitive punishments when they voice legitimate concerns about climate change,” she added.
A spokesperson for Bristol Labour dismissed the Green Party’s call for the Mayor to somehow authorise pupil absences as a ‘stunt’, but declined to confirm either way whether it would take a stance on whether children should be stopped from attending the strike protest, or parents fined if they did.
“With child poverty soaring, education remains the best route out of disadvantage,” said a Labour spokesperson.
“Green Party councillors – who vote again and again with the very Tories who are cutting school budgets – just don’t seem to get it.
“Marvin Rees’ Labour administration is leading for a Green New Deal for Bristol. We have invested tens of millions in renewable energy, heat networks, and low-emission vehicles.
“Unfortunately, the Green Party voted with the Tories to oppose all of Labour’s crucial investment in the fight against climate change. The Green Party weren’t brave enough to vote with Labour to invest to protect the planet, so are instead resorting to stunt letters,” he added.
