The religious organisation behind some of Sydney's most prestigious private schools has endorsed its 10,000 students and their teachers skipping class for next month's climate change rally, as part of a broader push to respond to the "crisis confronting the planet".

The NSW and ACT Synods of the Uniting Church, which runs Knox Grammar, Newington College, and Pymble Ladies' College among other high-profile schools, passed a resolution last month to support young people in the global climate strike movement.

Students take a day off school to protest at a climate change rally in Sydney in March. Credit:Janie Barrett

It is believed to be the first major Australian institution to provide such explicit support for the movement.

The moderator of the Uniting Church in NSW and the ACT, Reverend Simon Hansford, said Uniting's congregation members not only believed urgent and decisive action was needed, but also that the church needed to back the initiatives of its youth on the issue of climate change "and that includes support of the global climate strikes".