Yarm School is celebrating after winning an Eco-Schools Green Flag Award for the fourth time.
The mayor of Stockton on Tees, Councillor Eileen Johnson, visited the school to present the award, after a recent inspection by Alistair Wilson from the Eco-schools team.
Mr Wilson visited during Eco-week, when he met with Mr David Dunn (Headmaster), Yarm School’s Eco-Schools Co-ordinator Gina Leary, Mr Alan Hodgson (Head of Estates), Mr Richard Hardy (Head Chef) and Mrs Pat Smith (Catering Manager), to discuss how Yarm School is reducing its carbon footprint on a range of environmental issues.
Mr Wilson was given a tour by the Eco-reps who showed him the herb garden, new recycling facilities and a display in the biology department about how the school is reducing its use of plastics to prevent marine damage.
During Eco-week the school focussed on highlighting the various ways pupils can reduce their carbon footprints, inside and outside school. Students scraped their own plates at mealtimes to encourage them to think about portion size and food waste. The week also saw a no-meat Monday to highlight the greenhouse emissions caused by meat productions. Tuesday was a Green Food Day when the food was both green in colour and as locally sourced as possible.
The eco-theme of the week was compounded by assemblies on eco-matters, eco-quizzes and eco-debates. There was an eco-cake and sweet stall and eco-sporting events, including eco-netball, eco-cross-bar challenge and an eco-hockey “beat the goalie”. Money raised has been reinvested into the school’s eco-projects and towards raising money for toilet twinning.
Headmaster David Dunn, said: “At Yarm School, we take our green responsibilities incredibly seriously and recognise the importance of environmental awareness in education. We are delighted to accept our fourth Green Flag Award and we will continue to pursue carbon reduction and green responsibility across our school.”
Gina Leary, Eco-School’s Co-ordinator at Yarm School, said: “It is a very proud moment to recognise this fourth Green Flag Award. Eco-schools has been running at Yarm for 10 years, and it is fantastic to see the efforts of the whole school community working together to make our environment a better protected place to live in.”
Councillor Eileen Johnson, said: “Congratulations to everyone at Yarm School. It is vitally important that young people take a leading role in tackling climate change and working towards a carbon neutral future. Yarm School pupils have consistently proven themselves to be taking action on environmental issues, as demonstrated by their fourth Green Flag Award win. Well done to all on this wonderful achievement.”
Pic caption: Left to right Sam Hardy (Head Boy), David Dunn (Headmaster), Flora Wilmot (Eco-rep), Katie Fox (Eco-rep), Kirsty MacLeod (Eco-rep), Gina Leary (Eco-School’s Co-ordinator), Caitlin Keenan (Head Girl), Mayor (The Worshipful, The Mayor of Stockton-on-Tees, Councillor Eileen Johnson)