Posted on: Thursday 18 July 2024
A primary school in Pontypool has scooped a top ecological award for the eighth consecutive year.
Pupils at Penygarn Community Primary School were awarded a Platinum Flag through the Eco Schools programme, thanks to their Eco School action plan, which includes litter picking, recycling, and monitoring food waste and electricity use.
Schools achieve Platinum Status once they have been awarded the Green Flag four times – demonstrating their long-term commitment to environmental education, student involvement and sustainability.
To achieve this latest accolade, the school’s Eco Senedd group, which is made up of 20 children in years 4 to 6, took on a whole school recycling project.
It involved pupils visiting all classrooms to count the number of waste bins and note what they were being used for. They spoke with pupils and teachers to see if they felt recycling was being done effectively, and if not, what could be done better.
The children decided to reuse the bins and relabel them to fit in with the new Welsh Government legislation on recycling, with all pupils and staff having a better understanding of how to implement recycling in their classrooms.
Reusing the bins saved the school around £300, which will be put towards other projects.
Eco-Schools is an international environmental education programme run in Wales by environmental charity, Keep Wales Tidy and funded by the Welsh Government. The programme aims to inspire and empower pupils to be leaders of change in their community, helping them learn about sustainable living and global citizenship.
It also gives them the information and support they need to make changes that will benefit their school, local environment and wider community, such as reducing waste, energy consumption, transport, biodiversity, healthy living and litter issues.
Elizabeth Williams, Eco Senedd Leader at Penygarn Primary School, said: “We are overjoyed to have kept our Platinum Green Flag status, an award we hold close to our hearts. as we are so passionate about environmental action and learning in our community and beyond.
“All pupils and teachers benefitted from the discussions that took place. It was good to see the everyone got involved to take responsibility for the environment and increasing their recycling knowledge.”
Kylie Hughes, Education Officer for Keep Wales Tidy said: “The Platinum Flag is a very impressive achievement and highlights the enthusiasm and commitment that Penygarn Community Primary School has towards sustainable development. The dedication of the Eco-Committee over many years has been inspirational. I’d like to congratulate and thank all of the pupils and staff involved for their hard work!”
For more information on the Eco-Schools programme, visit www.keepwalestidy.org/eco-schools