Warblington School in Havant holds Big Green Week events as it aims to be among the area's first 'eco schools'

Pupils at Warblington School have undertaken a range of activities – from a meat-free Monday to litter picking sessions around the area – to join communities across the country in the environmental awareness week, created by the charity The Climate Coalition.

The week culminated in pupils staging a fair to raise money and awareness for the school’s efforts to become an accredited ‘eco school’, a standard created by Keep Britain Tidy to encourage schoolchildren to cut waste, tackle littering, and promote biodiversity.

Warblington School has already created an environmental panel, made up of pupils, to ensure the school is meeting the targets of its eco action plan, which include regular litter picking sessions and cutting down on the school’s energy use.

Teacher Grainne Rason, who helped co-ordinate the week, said it had been ‘fantastic’ to see so many of the school’s pupils thinking about the state of the planet.

She said: ‘The plan is to be accredited by May. The final step will be bringing the whole school together to put in place an eco code.

‘We are working with Bosmere Junior School, sending pupils there to discuss environmental issues, and they send pupils here to use our biodiversity garden.’

Ben Brinas, a 15-year-old member of the school’s environmental panel, said: ‘We have recently set up plans to put a smart meter so we can monitor how the school is using electricity.

‘We’re also putting in more bins to prevent and discourage littering. And we’re holding assemblies to educate students about how much the planet is in a bad way.’

And the impact of the deteriorating environment is being felt by pupils, with pollution having a noticeable impact on their health.

Megan Harrington, a 13-year-old member of the panel, said: ‘Air pollution is a really big deal in my day-to-day life – I can see it or my chest hurts sometimes because of it.

‘Things like, when you get to train gates, turn your engines off – it’s such a simple thing.’

The News launched the Going for Green campaign with Portsmouth Climate Action Board to highlight how everyone can help improve the environment, from corporations to individuals.

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