Sheffield primary school recognised for efforts in looking after the planet

Royd Nursery Infant School, in Deepcar, has been successful in gaining the prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag Award having previously achieved the bronze and silver awards, which are self-accredited stepping-stones along the way.

The award is a top accolade which celebrates the school’s commitment to environmental awareness and looking after the planet.

Helping to build a greener future has become an integral part of life at Royd Nursery Infants, which is currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Deputy headteacher Sean Sly said: “Royd is committed to making a difference to our children’s lives. They are the future. If we are able to empower our children to lead change within their school then hopefully this will have a positive impact at home as well as in their wider community.

“I am delighted that the staff and children’s commitment to the project has been rewarded with achieving the Green Award, as they are extremely passionate about it.”

The Green Flag Award is the highest possible level that a school can be awarded.

At Royd Nursery Infant, the school’s environmental efforts are driven by a team of children or ‘eco warriors’ who help roll out projects which raise environmental awareness, improvement the school environment and can also create a financial saving for the school.

The has a huge drive on saving energy and one project it runs is named ‘switch off fortnight’ where children monitor whether rooms that aren’t being used at playtimes and lunchtimes have things such as computer screens and lights turned off when they aren’t being used.

The children really enjoy trying to catch the teachers out and telling them that they need to switch these things off, according to the school.

They say it creates quite a lot of healthy competition between the classes as they all want to win.

Eco Schools is a global programme which engages some 19.5 million children across 67 countries.

To find out more visit www.eco-schools.org.uk.

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