The Eco-Group at Oriel High School has been working really hard to complete their application to become an Eco-School.

Being an Eco-School is the perfect way to acknowledge, reward and celebrate the ecological achievements of young people.

It demonstrates that their hard work is appreciated, and it provides them with the confidence and motivation to continue actively engaging with environmental issues now and throughout their lifetimes.

The group has begun to tackle this by looking at environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity, litter and plastic pollution. The students completed a whole school audit on what Oriel High School is doing well to reduce its footprint on this earth and raised the profile of the work the students have been doing by producing posters to display around the school.

The posters are designed to brighten up the school garden with vibrant artwork and continue to encourage others to save water by using reusable water bottles, and recycling their litter around the school.

Eco-Group received some great feedback from the Eco-Schools team, which demonstrates the hard work the group has shown.

Eco-School Team, said: “This shows you have a confident Eco-Committee dedicated to maximizing their impacts. We like how active your Eco-Committee was in communicating their Eco-Schools activity school-wide, including assemblies, communicating with the SLT, using your Eco Board, posting on social media and the use of the mentor board.

“Your Eco-board especially is incredibly visual and engaging and promotes your work in a very attractive way. This is really strong informing and involving and shows how valued and embedded the Eco-Schools programme is in your school.’’

The group’s work does not stop there. Over the coming weeks, the group aims to deliver assemblies to share ideas outlined in its action plan as well as to create flower beds around the school grounds.

The group will also be leading a community litter pick and heading out into the Oriel Garden to plant some seasonal veg.

Eco-Schools is a charity that is passionate about engaging young people in environmental education and action. The charity provides a simple, seven-step framework that guides, empowers and motivates pupils to drive change and improve environmental awareness in their school, local community, and beyond.