Pewsey Vale School wins Wiltshire Youth Council Eco Week competition

On Thursday June 8, Pewsey Vale School’s student council was awarded the prize for winning the Wiltshire Youth Council Eco Week competition. The competition, devised by the Wiltshire Youth Council, was open to all Wiltshire primary and secondary schools with the aim to promote awareness of what can be done with regard to climate change.

Pewsey Vale’s Student Leadership team devised a range of eco activities for the week which ran from 6-10 March. These included: a mileage tracker for walking or cycling to school; a ‘Green Day’, where students and staff were asked to wear green clothing made with sustainable materials, second hand items, recycled, repurposed or hand made. This raised awareness of the impact of fast-fashion on the environment.  An art workshop shared ideas about creative ways to use recycled plastics. And a weekly gardening club raised awareness of how we can grow our own food, reducing the need for produce to be bought from other countries and avoiding mass farming which uses pesticides. This club continues to run every week.

Presenting the award, Cameron Draisey, Child and Youth Voice Support Worker and Councillor Tamara Reay, Portfolio Holder for Climate Change, said, “You produced a brilliant range of initiatives and ideas for the future, which are great contributions to becoming eco-friendlier. We particularly liked that a number of the projects involved the whole school community, for example your mileage tracker and green school uniform.  The recycling of plastics into rain catchers is very innovative.”

The Pewsey Vale School Student Leadership is run and organised by Head Girl, Seraphina, and Head Boy, Callum, who are both sitting their GCSE exams at the moment. The student Leadership team also includes representatives (Navigators) from all year groups.

A spokesman for the school said, “The Student Leadership team is fast becoming a positive force for good within the school. Once the current Year 11 students move on to their next academic destinations, the new Head girl, Head boy, and Deputy head girl and boy will be announced and a new Student Leadership body will work towards new heights and new challenges next academic year.”