Eco Schools activity day success

Ninety children from 15 Shropshire primary and secondary schools attended an Eco Schools activity day held at Acton Scott Historic Working Farm.

The event was held to reward the efforts of schools across Shropshire with Eco Schools and to showcase what support is available from the council. Ruth Hudson, Shropshire Council sustainability officer, was overwhelmed by the amount of interest in the day, which was booked up weeks in advance, and is already planning to run a similar event later on this year.

Throughout the year schools across Shropshire are encouraged to get involved with sustainable activities and the Eco-Schools programme, which is run by Keep Britain Tidy. The programme can bring many benefits to the pupils and staff and also their school as a whole, helping schools to make both resource and financial savings and efficiencies through a number of different activities. These can range from reducing energy and waste costs, to improving school grounds and adding fresh produce to school meals. It can also help schools to engage with their local community and develop partnerships and projects with local businesses.

The children took part in workshops designed around the nine key topics of the Eco Schools programme, which are: water, transport, energy, waste, litter, global citizenship, biodiversity, school grounds, and healthy living. A great range of activities were delivered by volunteers from organisations including: Sustrans, Underhill Farm, Severn Trent, Fordhall Farm, Forest Schools, Sense and Sustainability, Bridges, Shropshire Wildlife Trust, and Shropshire Council.

Malcolm Smith from Severn Trent Water said:

“The most positive thing I found was the sharing amongst the schools, telling each other things they had done and learning from each other.”

James Hindson from Sense and Sustainability said:

“It was an inspirational experience for a lot of the children there.”

Christ Church Primary School were thrilled with the day, saying:

“The children were positively engaged all day. Please do it again!”

Eco-Schools is an international award programme that encourages pupils and teachers to come up with fun, eco-friendly projects to help make their school a more pleasant place to be and reduce its impact on the environment. The programme is well supported in Shropshire with over 90% of our schools signed up, over 20 of which have the coveted Green Flag award.