The
2008 Winners

UK Champions 2008

Banchory Primary School, Banchory. Aberdeenshire.

Project title: Bags in Banchory
Category: Totally Clued Up

The children of Banchory Primary School focussed on plastic bags in a big way. After all, we use over 13 billion of them in the UK each year! They visited a local supermarket and counted how many carrier bags were used by shoppers in a single hour. From this, they calculated how many bags would be used in a year - and from that one shop alone, over one million bags would walk out the doors! They then designed and produced their own reusable bags that they sold to the people of Banchory. The bags proved so popular that they sold their first batch of 500 within a couple of days, and are now waiting for new stock. Their work has really had an impact on their community, showing that young people really do have the power to make a difference!

National finalists, Central

Chuter Ede Primary School, Newark.

Project title: Digging for Victory
Category: Totally Active

Children from Chuter Ede travelled back in time with their 'Digging for Victory' garden, which recreated the way people were encouraged to use their gardens during the Second World War. They installed their own Anderson shelter and researched which vegetables were planted for food in the 1940s before planting their vegetable patch. They have sampled the produce they have grown. They have also started keeping chickens so that they could eat their own eggs. A brilliant, practical project.

National Finalists, North

Fosse Way Primary School, North Hykeham.

Project title: Act Local, Think Global
Category: Totally Creative

Children at Fosse Way Primary School have been involved in some fabulous environmental work for their project. They created a documentary 'Act Local, Think Global' in which reporters carried out a series of interviews with 'experts' (other members of the class) on environmental topics such as climate change, pollution and paper recycling. They wrote and performed an eco rap and have invented the 'Green Fosse Code'. They have also cleared the school's pond and created a range of poems and comic strips. An excellent piece of work, with huge amounts of enjoyment and involvement from the children!

National Finalists, South

Turners Hill CE Primary School, Crawley.

Project title: Turners Hill
Category: Totally Clued Up

Pupils at Turners Hill found out about what their village was like in 1940 with the help of Mr Milham, a former gamekeeper aged 80, who has lived in Turners Hill for most of his life. They interviewed him and found out that in the 1940s, there were still glow worms and nightjars in the countryside and that there were many fewer houses. Each week, two children went with him to learn about the local wildlife. The children did paintings of the village now and then, from photographs taken in the 1940s, and some wrote stories imagining a trip back in time. Finally, they carried out a shopping survey, to find out how many miles food at the local shop had travelled. More than 50% of it was from the UK, but a packet of prawns had travelled 6,300 miles. This was an excellent way for young people to gain an understanding not only of history, but of their heritage.

National Finalists, Wales

Bedlinog Primary School, Bedlinog.

Project title: Animating for the Environment
Project Category: Totally Creative

This was a highly entertaining set of animations that the children of Bedlinog School created in small groups. All had environmental themes, including penguins, recycling, polar bears and dog mess! The children clearly had great fun making their films, but also managed to incorporate serious messages to their lighthearted creations. Each film also had a publicity poster and was supplied with a storyboard to show how the scenes would develop.

Watch a sample video

Other examples of excellent projects from 2008

Regional Winner, Central

Bovingdon Primary School, Hemel Hempstead.

Project title: Springfield College
Project Category: Totally Creative

Children from Bovingdon visited a nearby area of woodland called Springfield to seek inspiration for a collage. The completed piece expressed how they felt about the natural space that surrounded them there, and was created entirely from natural objects and litter they found whilst visiting the site. This was a stunning idea, which really captured the idea of interpreting nature through art.

Regional Winner, North

Pilling St John's C of E School, Pilling, near Preston.

Project title: A Shed Load of Energy
Project Category: Totally Powered Up

Mrs Tate, Headteacher of Pilling St John's Primary School, set the pupils a challenge. She wanted somewhere peaceful where she could enjoy her cup of tea at breaktime, and it had to be run on sustainable energy. Having investigated renewable and non-renewable energy and insulation, the children provided her with an 'Eco Shed'. The shed itself was recycled, having been donated by a parent, and a mini wind turbine and solar panel were fitted to provide it with light and heat. The school now has planning permission for a full-sized wind turbine, which when built will potentially save up to 5209kg of CO2 emissions per year. This project shows the huge commitment and enjoyment the children got from their environmental work this year.

Regional Winner, South

St Andrew's CE Junior School, Congresbury.

Project title: Totally Powered Up
Project Category: Totally Powered Up
The Year 5 & 6 children of St Andrew's School made their entry Totally Powered Up by placing it on an excellent website. They carried out an energy survey of the school, made models of renewable energy sources like wind turbines and did an assembly for the younger children, which was videoed and incorporated into their website. The other Year 5/6 class looked at their carbon footprints, and did an assembly on eco travel for their fellow pupils. Both groups devised quizzes which are available online.

Regional Winner, South

Highbury Primary School, Portsmouth.

Project title: The Planet Party
Category: Totally Creative

The Planet Party are a group of children from Highbury Primary School who got together to write and perform a song - 'Today's the Day'. The song was recorded by a local musician and the children shot and edited their own 'video' of the song, for which they also did their own choreography. The song has an unusually optimistic message, suggesting that we should 'turn off the bad, switch on the good', and that we should all do our bit to help the world every day. The project stands out for the quality of the song and the way that the lyrics were arrived at through contributions from the whole group.

View the Highbury Primary School Video

Regional Winner, Scotland

Harmeny School, Balerno.

Project title: Heritage Trail
Project Category: Totally Active

Children at Harmeny School are all deeply involved in the development of their allotment and wildlife area. There is now a 4 day rota in place for working on the allotment, which integrates the environment into the school curriculum. Benches in the allotment were made from recycled materials and a litter pick in Eco Week cleared a staggering 85kg of rubbish from a local woodland. The school now has a wormery, which is used to break down kitchen scraps into compost for use on the allotment. All of the work was recorded on an excellent DVD.

Regional Winner, Wales

Ysgol Gynradd Machynlleth.

Project title: Eden

Children at Ysgol Gynradd Machynlleth have been working hard to turn their school garden into 'Eden' - a brilliant environmental area with a nature reserve, a pond, paths, a willow arch, bird boxes and bug hotels. They have planted new hedges to encourage still more wildlife and have sold some of the produce they have grown at a local farmers' market. This is an ongoing project which has involved the wider community as well as children from the school.


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