But she cleared it with principal Kim Dixon first, so instead of heading out the school gates, the students gathered peaceably to make signs at lunchtime and then boycotted a single class.

Lisa Siegel from the Centre for Ecological Learning, who came along in solidarity, said initially she’d thought staging a school strike at school didn’t sound like much of a strike.

But on reflection, she decided it was better than what was happening at other schools around the country.

“I think it’s cool because they actually got the principal to publicly support them,” Lisa said.

“Nadia championed it and she negotiated with Mrs Dixon. It’s probably educated more kids about the issues by making it easier for them to be involved and making them think about why their principal has allowed them to miss school for it.” 

Nadia, who has been an environmental activist with CEL’s Youth Against Plastic group since she was 13, took Prime Minister Scott Morrison to task over his comment about wanting more learning in schools and less activism.

“I don’t think any of us really wants to be doing this, it’s just that we feel we have to,” she said. “Because there’s such uncertainty about the future and that’s because of Adani and all the things that contribute to climate change.”

Her fellow school captain Tomas Pocilujko agreed the action was necessary.

“We couldn’t just stand by. Of course schools and universities are going to be hotbeds for activism and change. You have all these minds being put at work constantly and you can’t ask them not to think critically about the world that we’re in.”

Ruby Green, another of the strike organisers from year 12, said she wanted to share what she felt about the dangers of climate change and encourage politicians to think.

“This week we’ve seen huge events like massive fires and a heatwave in Queensland and in Sydney they’ve had floods. Scientists have pointed to climate change as being responsible for these extreme weather events. It’s obviously having an impact.”

Tomas said he thought this was the difference between climate change activism and other types.

“This is a practical, tangible threat,” he said. “It’s so very clear and real that we need to act now.”