Primary-aged children from schools across the diocese came together to celebrate creative eco action and caring for God’s planet in the Leicester Diocesan Board of Education’s first ever Eco Schools Extravaganza.
Eco ambassador pupil teams from Harby, Ridgeway, Great Bowden, Thurnby St Luke’s and Belgrave St Peter’s, attended a fun-filled day of eco workshops and hands-on activities at St Martins House next to Leicester Cathedral, before presenting their school sustainability projects to an expert panel of judges.
From biodiversity and carbon footprints to nature gardens and big conversations about climate change, the day was a joyful showcase of young people leading the way in making their schools more sustainable and exploring what it means to care for the environment.
In the morning, the children learnt about their school’s carbon footprint using Lego, explored biodiversity on school grounds, and talked about what “sustainability” really means, as well as taking a tour of the Cathedral and learning centre.
In the afternoon, the eco ambassador pupil teams presented the work they have been doing over the past year to improve their school’s sustainability. This included creating nature gardens and writing to (and receiving a response from!) Sir David Attenborough.
The presentations and the pupils’ enthusiasm for protecting the environment really impressed the judging panel, which was made up of climate and education specialists from across the region. The schools were presented with special bamboo awards recognising their hard work.
It was lovely to see how the children worked across year groups and ages to lead an eco-project together, and how eloquently they answered questions from the judging panel.
Nina Hern, Senior Business and Operations Manager for the Diocesan Board of Education, said the event was the perfect opportunity to invite schools’ eco-councils and clubs to showcase their sustainability work and take part in challenges and activities with other schools, enriching their engagement with environmental action and understanding.
She added: “It was great to see the children presenting their projects to the judges and how passionate they were about sustainability and climate change. A fun time was had by all!”
Tracey Manns, Diocesan Deputy Director of Education, agreed it was an encouraging event, and said: "The Eco Extravaganza day was a fantastic display of collaborative working. Church and community school pupils, staff, Diocesan staff, Cathedral and external organisations all coming together to celebrate the project work of children and young people.
“All pupils had worked together on how to make their schools more sustainable and the brilliant work they had created was such a joy to see.”
