Hexham pupils' energy-saving ideas win prizes

Posted by The Journal on May 11, 10 09:16 AM in School news

Energy-saving ideas thought up by youngsters at a Northumberland school have helped them win a county-wide environment competition.

Students at Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham set up a special working group to implement eco-friendly schemes around the school.

These included organising an eco-awareness day, using produce from the orchard and vegetable garden in the sixth form cafe, replacing polystyrene cups with mugs that pupils brought in from home and organising a paper saving day.

The competition, organised by the county council, was aimed at getting young people to think about what they and their schools can do to help address climate change.

Participating schools were each given ÃÂ£100 to help set up projects.

Last month pupils presented their schemes to a panel of judges.

Hugh Clearhill, climate change officer at the council, said: "This event was enormously valuable in encouraging students to think carefully about their potential impact on the environment and what changes they can make to reduce this impact."

Queen Elizabeth High was given ÃÂ£500 to progress its work further. The students involved received a prize of ÃÂ£250.

King Edward VI School in Morpeth and Bede Academy in Blyth were the runners-up.

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