The
2010 Winners

North - Totally Creative Winner and UK Champions 2010

Pilling St John's CE Primary School, Pilling, Preston
29 children aged 6-9
Project Title: The Pilling Coral Reef

This is a brilliant example of how immersive a Green School Awards project can be. When the children of Pilling St John's bought an acre of coral reef off Indonesia, the idea for the project was born. The children decided that they would like their own coral reef at school. They did lots of research about the life of the coral reef before concluding that they would knit their own coral reef at school! The children had help from the local W.I. and spent a day knitting their reef.

A subsequent visit to the Blackpool Sealife Centre inspired them to create their own sealife centre at school. This incorporated the coral reef, but also included lots of mini aquaria, which the children made from old shoe boxes. Their aquaria were filled with models of a wide variety of sealife and they were placed on display in the school corridors. The sharks section was particularly impressive, as it was blacked out and lit with blue lights, and the walls were decorated with life-size paintings of sharks. They wrote a guide for their Sealife Centre and invited local people to visit. Each visitor was charged an entry fee of 20p and all of the proceeds were donated to a turtle conservation charity.

The children also wrote poetry and performed a song written by one of the pupils at the opening of their centre. Since then, the Coral Reef has been on tour and was shown first in Pilling Methodist Church Hall before going on to be exhibited at the Aquarium of the Lakes. This project had everything - cross-curricular learning, care for the environment, community involvement and even fundraising.

SCOTLAND - Totally Clued Up Winner and Regional Champion 2010

Knockbreck Primary School, Tain, Ross-Shire 22 children aged 9-10
Project Title: Knockbreck Bird Company

The children of Knockbreck Primary took a very enterprising approach with their project to provide bird feeders for the school community. They formed a company and set up a selection process for the company's senior executives. Having appointed the Board and decided on a company logo, they looked at which products they would make.

In the end, they concluded that bird feeders were the best product for them to produce. They researched competitors to assess how they should price their bird feeders and to find out which ingredients to use.

They sent letters to parents about their Bird Company inviting them to buy bird feeders for their homes. Much preparation went into a sales evening held at the school, with the creation of packaging for the feeders, logoed name badges for the team and order forms for customers who wanted more bird feeders than were available on the night. The sale was very successful and the team made a profit.

This was a great piece of work, which had many different elements to it and which improved the lives of many birds around Tain whilst giving the young people a real insight into forming a business.

SOUTH/ CENTRAL - Totally Clued Up Winner and Regional Champion 2010

Saint Matthew's C of E Primary School, Surbiton, Surrey
29 children aged 9-10
Project Title: Food Behind Closed Doors

In this outstanding video, the children investigated where in the world their food comes from. The contents of lunch boxes and school lunches were examined to see where the food had been grown and how far it had travelled to be eaten by the children.

They visited the school's fruit and vegetable supplier to find out which English produce he had bought that day. They then went on to visit a local farmers' market to find out what was available there and they found that most of it was very local indeed and the longest journey to the market was of just 30 miles.

Inspired by this, they then looked at growing their own and visited two of their classmates at their families' allotments. They talked passionately about the odd shaped but chemical free vegetables that they had grown themselves. It was clear that all of the children took a real interest and were keen to take up the challenge of growing their own food in the future.

Apart from the great message, what was also striking about this project was the highly professional job the children did of presenting their documentary. It was a report that many TV journalists would have been proud of.

WALES & WEST - Totally Powered Up Winner and Regional Champion 2010

Castle Park Primary School, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, NP26 4HN Tel: 01291 420265
Teacher Contact: Mrs Sue Wilsher
29 children aged 10-11
Project Title: Renewable Energy and the Severn Barrage

The children of Castle Park Primary's excellent work focussed on a highly controversial future source of renewable energy for the UK. The proposed Severn Barrage could generate up to 5% of the UK's energy requirements, utilising the Severn's immense tidal range of around 15 metres - one of the largest in the world.

The children started by having visits from speakers representing organisations including the Young People's Trust for the Environment and Parson Brinckerhoff, a company tasked with carrying out the feasibility study for the Severn Barrage. Having visited the river themselves, the children carried out a local survey, asking over 100 people for their opinions on the barrage. Most seemed to think it was a good idea, though there was much concern over possible environmental impacts.

The children wrote letters asking for the opinions of influential people including their local MP, the Mayor of Caildicot, Gordon Brown, Prince Charles and the Queen. They even had the chance to visit the Welsh Assembly to hold their own class debate on the issue there. This was a brilliant way for young people to engage with an important local environmental issue, which will have impacts on their community in the future.




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