01 April 2012

Pupils splashing time!
Eco-friendly pupils at Pontefract£s St Joseph£s Catholic Primary School made a splash to celebrate World Water Day

The school£s eco-team £ made up of two staff members and two pupils from each year £ organised a week of water workshops and special talks by volunteers from two charities which provide water to the world£s poorest countries.

Claire Riley, year one teacher, said: £It was a wonderful week and the children are much more aware of the water the they use.

£From brushing their teeth to having a bath, they have learned about people around the world who don£t have such easy access to water and it has made them realise how lucky they are.

£Lessons throughout the week had a water theme, our maths lessons taught about measuring water amounts, we visited the library to hear stories about water, sang songs about water and had two talks from representative from Water Aid and the Catholic Overseas Development Agency.£

Pupils also dressed up in H2O fancy dress to celebrate World Water Day on Thursday, raising money for Water Aid.

The Newgate school is working towards green flag status from international awards programme Eco Schools, which recognises schools£ work to improve the environment.

Mrs Riley added: £To achieve green flag status we have to hit a number of targets and develop links with other countries. The children decided this week of water activities would help us work towards the award.

£We have already achieved bronze and silver awards from Eco Schools and the next step is green flag status which we£ll apply for later this year.

£The awards programme teaches pupils about looking after our own world and we have already done lessons on recycling and energy conservation.

£If we do achieve green flag status we£ll have a green flag pole put up at school. It would be a great achievement for the whole school.£

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