School pupils from Marlborough staged a classroom walk out yesterday to an international school protest against climate change

Children from St John’s Academy were joined by youngsters from primary schools as they walked out of their lessons to call for immediate action to tackle the climate emergency.

Around 40 young people assembled at Marlborough Town Hall from 11.30am in a as part of an international movement inspired by the Swedish teenager and climate activist, Greta Thunberg. Many more students had reportedly gathered beforehand at the site of the Academy to protest before returning to lessons.

The St John’s Academy pupils had marched down from the school site to Marlborough High Street to join the younger children. The pupils spent around 90 minutes on the steps of Town Hall chanting anti-climate emergency messages to lunchtime shoppers and passing motorists.

Eliza, 14, a pupil at St John’s Academy joining the strike, said: “Our generation is going have to live with the consequences of climate crisis. We all have to be prepared to change.”

Fellow striker and St John’s pupil, Aggie, 14, said: “I don’t think that people appreciate how serious the situation we face actually is. Everyone needs to realise how the climate emergency is going to impact our generation and work to change how they live their lives.”

The Marlborough pupils were part of an international school strike involving more than a million young people in at least 110 countries.

The strike was the second major climate change protest on Marlborough High Street this month, following Extinction Rebellion’s action on 11 May which brought Saturday morning traffic to a crawl as protesters marched in the road.