Yarm School

Pupils at Yarm School are celebrating success after achieving a sixth Eco-Schools Green Flag award for implementing a wide range of eco-friendly initiatives across the school.

The pupils embarked on the unique programme that empowers them to lead change within their school and have a positive impact in their wider community. The Eco-Schools programme encourages pupils of all ages to work together to develop their knowledge and environmental awareness.

The pupils received a plaque for this award, which focused on biodiversity, waste, and litter.

In the school’s textiles department, pupils used recyclable materials to create fashionable garments for the Eco Fashion Competition which takes place at the annual Fashion Show. The art department had a recyclable sculpture project, using waste household materials to create animal sculptures displayed around the school site.

During school activity sessions, the school’s community action group have collected litter, while pupils in the herb gardening activity group cared for the various green spaces around the school including the school herb garden. The Eco-Schools committee also introduced a new battery recycling scheme and encouraged the school community to bring in used batteries. In previous years, they introduced bat, bird and hedgehog houses to provide additional habitats in the school grounds as well as raising funds for an Eco Bench.

The Green Flag Award was presented by Jessica Jenyns, a former Yarm student and recent visiting artist, who encouraged the pupils to be involved in Eco Art projects both in school and in the Yarm community and who currently upcycles and recycles clothing items as an Eco Artist.

Headmaster Huw Williams said: “We are delighted to accept our sixth Green Flag Award; it is a huge achievement for our school and reflects our aim to ensure that sustainability and environmental awareness are central to our strategy and that our pupils are engaged and involved in achieving this. They are at the heart of the school’s efforts to meet the standards required to earn this accolade.

“We take our environmental responsibilities incredibly seriously and recognise the importance of awareness in education, as well as considering these issues in our strategy and capital development plans. We will build on this success by developing our Eco-Schools Action Plan which will see new initiatives implemented. The Eco-Committee and staff will continue to engage and educate our pupils on environmental issues.”

Commenting on the school’s achievements, the Eco-Schools assessors said: “Our team enormously enjoyed reading your evaluations of each of your chosen topics – it’s clear that you’ve had a very successful year all round.

“Your work to reduce waste and increase recycling will have had a real impact on everybody at your school and your local environment, and provides solid foundations for future Eco-Committees to build on.”

Simone Sharma, a pupil in the upper sixth, said: “The comments from the assessors truly convey the real progress and positive impact that Yarm has on the environment. I’m really proud that all our hard work and dedication led to the fantastic achievement of our Sixth Green Flag Award!”

ENDS

NEWS RELEASE: ISSUED ON BEHALF OF YARM SCHOOL

For further information contact Alex Dryden on 01325 363436

Editor’s Notes:

Yarm School, a co-educational day school, is situated in the attractive and historic town of Yarm on a beautiful stretch of the River Tees. It was established in 1978 to provide high quality education for pupils aged 11 to 18. It has its own Preparatory School for boys and girls aged 7 to 10, a Pre-Prep for boys and girls aged four to six years and a Nursery for three-year-olds.