The children at Westbury Leigh have been really inspired and have taken on a variety of projects to achieve this award including; ‘The Wombles of Westbury Leigh’ litter picking, fund raising – making animals from recycled materials to raise money for an African hostel, creating monitors throughout the school to save energy, raising awareness about global warming and helping to secure funding for the installation of solar panels. Children look after school gardens for growing plants, care for animals on the school farm, join in with forest school activities, helping biodiversity by building a bug hotel and wild garden area for bees, butterflies and bugs.
Mrs Caroline Warren, Eco Lead, explains: ‘As a school we have been keenly following the Eco-Schools Programme. It’s pupil-led, hands-on, real-world learning and has got the whole school and the wider community involved in environmental projects. At Westbury Leigh we believe that the future of our world is in the hands of our children and their voice and place within this should be nurtured, heard and respected. It’s a huge achievement to be awarded Eco-Schools Green Flag Award and is a result of everyone working together. We have had fun celebrating by having a day of ‘Going Green’. Children wore green and joined in with a variety of activities experiencing and enjoying the wonder of nature around them.”
Bella, in Year 2: “It is important that we all work to save the planet. We must all do our part to save the world, the animals and ourselves!”
The children are driving our Eco School by guiding the school to make the world better place. A session on recycling led to a group of year 1 children suggesting that we should have a compost bin in their area for their apple cores to go in to reduce the rubbish in land fill. We are hoping future fund raising events will help us to continue our exciting journey forward. Details of our next fund raising steps can be found on our school website.
