From re-cycling bottle-tops to running a Fair Trade tuck shop and putting water hippos in the toilets – the green schemes of one school have made it the first in Wales to win a national environmental award from the Church in Wales.
Pupils at St Brides Major Church in Wales Primary School have been presented with the Certificate of Outstanding Achievement by the Church in Wales in recognition for their work in sustaining the environment.
The award was made during the school’s Worship by Canon Robin Morrison, the Bishops’ Advisor for Church and Society this week (December 8).
Receiving it and describing their work were members of the school’s Eco Committee, which has a representative from each class from reception to Year 6. They oversee all environmental issues in the school, and discuss problems, achievements and ideas to make the school more eco-friendly.
The school has already been awarded the Eco-School Platinum Flag, the highest award for schools, and also an Eco-School National Award.
Mrs Jo Saal, the teacher in charge of the Eco Committee said, “The reason we are so successful as an Eco School is because every child and teacher is committed to making our school a clean, eco-friendly place to be.”
The school has been involved in many projects over the last few years, such as re-cycling bottle tops, running a FairTrade tuck shop, installing water hippos in the toilets to reduce water wastage, taking regular electricity and water readings and actively reducing the units the school uses, and Ground Works plastic recycling.
Projects planned for the coming year include planting an elm tree in order to take part in a research project to find out the cause and scale of Dutch Elm disease. The school is investigating the possibility of keeping livestock in the school grounds, starting with chickens. The eggs will be used in school dinners, cutting down on the carbon footprint involved in delivering. Vegetable peelings from the school kitchen will be used as food for the chickens, and paper waste will be shredded and used for bedding.
An Eco suggestion box is kept in the school for pupils to offer ideas and share any eco-related concerns.
Canon Robin Morrison, who chairs the Church in Wales’ environment group, CHASE, said, “This award is usually given to church communities so I am delighted it is now going to a school. These children are an inspiration and will probably have already influenced their own families and peer groups as well as being important contributors to a new kind of society in the future. We talk rightly about children being our future, but for me today they were so much part of our present – a true gift to the rest of us. It was a privilege to listen to the children and learn so much from them.
