Going green earns pupils at Padiham's St John the Baptist RC Primary School a Green Flag award from Eco Schools programme

The amazing work of students at St John the Baptist RC Primary in making their school more environmentally friendly and raising eco awareness in fellow pupils, has been recognised by The Eco Schools programme which has given it a Green Flag award, an internationally recognised symbol of high environmental standards.

To earn the honour pupils at St John’s first formed an eco-committee, then collaborated with teacher Mrs Jones to conduct an environmental review. They reviewed everything from biodiversity within their school grounds to how pupils and staff members travel to school.

Building on their findings, pupils, Mrs Jones and Miss Armstrong then planned a year of action designed to advance their school’s green credentials, improve their local environment, and protect the planet. The committee connected their work to three eco-schools topics: energy, global citizenship and school grounds. They then planned a variety of projects including visiting empty classrooms at lunchtime to make sure the lights and interactive whiteboards were switched off to save energy.

They also visited the office and kitchen staff to ask if they could buy ethical produce for use in school such as from Fairtrade or The Rainforest Alliance associations. Children also got to work identifying plants in the school grounds and making clear labels for them.

School governors have actively supported the project to reduce the school’s carbon footprint and funding was allocated to replace lighting with LED alternatives during the summer holiday.

In addition to this Mrs Irene Bracken, a foundation governor personalised one of the school bins to encourage further recycling.