Marlborough St Mary’s CE Primary School and Pewsey Vale School have been named as the primary and secondary school winners of Wiltshire Youth Council’s Eco Week competition.
Wiltshire schools took on the challenge during Eco Week between 6-10 March 2023, to create and share eco-friendly project ideas that would promote positive changes regarding climate change and have a lasting impact on green initiatives in their school.
The idea of Eco Week came from Wiltshire Youth Council, a group of secondary school-aged young people who represent young people’s views and are elected to speak out on issues that are important to them. Wiltshire Youth Councillors also supported the week by encouraging teachers and pupils to take part from their own schools.
Participating schools were encouraged to post images or videos onto social media with the hashtag #WYCEcoWeek. Schools also submitted a tracker of activities to the judging panel, that helped explain the difference their projects have made.
After the week had finished, a judging panel reviewed the school entries and decided the winners and runners up. The panel was made up of Wiltshire Council’s Cllr Laura Mayes (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education and Skills), Cllr Tamara Reay (Portfolio Holder for Climate Change) and Naomi Rodgman (Climate Technician).
Pewsey Vale School won the secondary school category, with the judging panel particularly appreciating a number of the projects that involved the whole school community. For example, their mileage tracker and green school uniform and the innovative ideas such as the recycling of plastics into rain catchers.
Marlborough St Mary’s CE Primary School (pictured top) was the winning primary school. The auditing in place to measure the long-term impact of their projects particularly impressed the judging panel. They also really enjoyed hearing about the fabulous bug hotel and loved the idea of sponsoring a polar bear.
The winners were awarded with an engraved plaque and a tree sapling to plant in their school presented by Wiltshire Council’s Cameron Draisey, Child and Youth Voice Worker, and Councillor Dominic Muns, Portfolio Holder for Education and Skills, Cllr Muns is also an ex-student of the school.
The runner up in the secondary school category was South Wiltshire Grammar School. The runners up in the primary school category were Queen’s Crescent School and St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School. All runners up were awarded with an engraved plaque.
More about Wiltshire Youth Council can be found at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/children-young-people-voice.