Environmental aces

After years of hard work, Wroughton Infants’ School has been awarded the Eco Schools’ Green Flag Award which recognises their dedication to helping the environment.

A team of 18 eco-councillors from each of the school’s nine classes came together to get the whole school recycling and saving energy.

Headteacher Violet Avenell said the children had worked very hard and she was pleased their efforts had been recognised.

“The eco-council go out and patrol the playground to check people are recycling their rubbish and scraps, and they do assemblies too,” she said.

“It is something the school has been working towards for years.”

The school was presented with the silver award two years ago and have been aiming for the flag ever since.

Energy usage, recycling, litter, and action plan were assessed and the children were encouraged by teachers Kelly Singh and Michelle Impey.

“We’re all really pleased and the eco-council was applauded in assembly yesterday. It was such a difficult thing to achieve and some of the things were a bit tricky,” she said.

Mrs Avenell thinks they will put the flag up in the school hall so everybody can see it.

“The award means we are seen as being eco-friendly and that we educate the children in terms of being good citizens and looking after the world,” she said.

“They are very young and if they learn young they can continue with those habits when they get older.

“It is important that they know, and then they go home and tell their families how to save electricity.”

Only 1,254 schools across the country have received the accreditation and Mrs Avenell said all 259 children in the school will have to continue to work hard to keep it.

“We will be reassessed every couple of years so we have to maintain our work. We will still continue with our eco-council,” she said.

Solar panels are set to be installed in the school soon thanks to a grant from British Gas.

“We are always looking to improve,” said Mrs Avenell.