International award for green school

Wednesday 18 February 2015

Trinity School has picked up an international award and is now one of three Island schools flying a green flag because it's so environmentally friendly.

The youngsters in the primary’s Eco club have been working towards the green flag award for a number of years, carrying out their own environmental review and making changes around the school.

Trinity School head teacher Nichola Turner said: “We are very proud and excited to have achieved the green flag award. A big thank you to all the children, staff and parents who have been involved in our Eco-Schools journey and have helped us become a greener school.

We know that small changes can make a big difference and that working together has helped make Trinity achieve this international award. This has been a child-led initiative from the beginning, involving children who are passionate about making a difference and caring for their environment – not just now, but in the years ahead.”

The children now walk, cycle, scooter and car share to school when they can and compost all the fruit peels and vegetables left over from their lunch. They reduce, reuse and recycle paper in class and make sure they are saving energy by turning off lights, computers and whiteboards when they are finished with them. They have also improved the areas outside the school to encourage more wildlife to move in.

The Planning and Environment Minister presented them with their green flag at a special assembly last Friday.

Deputy Steve Luce said: “Trinity School has done extremely well to have achieved Green Flag status and I’d like to congratulate everyone who’s been involved. The work going on in Island schools through the States Eco-Active programme is laying crucial foundations towards a more sustainable, low carbon future for Jersey, both in a practical sense and by embedding the principles of good environmental practice in our young people.”

JCG and JCG Prep are also working at Green Flag level.

Members of the Eco Club said: “We are very proud and excited to receive the Green Flag Award. It took a lot of hard work and we had a lot of help from people in our community, but it was lots of fun! We hope lots of other schools get it too.”