How these Wrexham pupils became Premier League recycling stars

In January, Sky Ocean Rescue and the Premier League launched the Plastic Pollution Challenge, which asked primary school pupils to pledge how they would cut their use of plastics.

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(The Plastic Pollution Challenge is part of the wider Premier League Primary Stars teaching resources)

The Clywedog and Taff class (Year 3) at St Mary’s Primary school in Wrexham proved they were more than up for the challenge with their recycling heroics being rewarded with a visit to Sky Studios in London.

There were over 13,500 entries to the competition from pupils across England and Wales, and St Mary’s was one of ten schools selected to visit London and present a news report about their recycling pledge ‘Think and Reuse’.

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The news report created by the class will be shared on the Premier League Primary Stars site and a panel of judges will choose an ultimate winner. Also, the school will receive a visit from Plasticus the Sky Ocean Rescue whale, plus the Premier League Trophy and some other special guests!

Whilst in Sky Academy Studios the pupils were divided into four teams, with each team being responsible for filming a section of the news report. The pupils were all given roles in their team such as producer, cameraman and news reporter. They were also fortunate to have a tour of the Sky Studios and visited Sky News and Sky Sports.

The recycling pledge they developed was ‘Think and Reuse’ and they’ve been spreading this message across Wrexham by asking local cafes to put their ‘Refill not Landfill’ recycling posters in their shop windows.

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Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport said: “This is fantastic news on so many fronts. Firstly, it’s great that the children and their school have taken it upon themselves to get involved with recycling, and then they’ve taken it further by spreading their message to a wider audience.

“But to then see their work get rewarded with a visit to Sky Studios is wonderful – it shows that hard work and caring about the future of the planet pays off. Everyone should be extremely proud of themselves.”

The visit took place on Wednesday, May 15 and pupils and teachers had a great time with the school regularly tweeting throughout the day.

All back safe & sound after a wonderful day @SkyAcademy London. @stmaryswxm @wrexham A huge thank you to all staff who made our day so special. We will remember this day for a long time!! Diolch for our goody bags & for a great experience ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/9MygnFP1Pl
— St Mary's Wrexham (@stmaryswxm) May 15, 2019

Rachel Acton, Headteacher at St Mary’s said: “We’re so proud of our Year 3 children who are educating our school community with their pledge ‘Think and Reuse.’ It’s so important that our children understand their responsibility to look after our planet and they, alongside our Eco Committee, are truly leading the way.”

“It’s wonderful to think that through their work, the children have been inspired to think of new initiatives to improve recycling facilities in the school and to educate all members of the school community, including the catering staff.”

Think and Reuse put into action

The whole of St. Mary’s have now taken on the ‘Think and Reuse’ pledge. In future events such as discos and sports days, single-use plastics will be avoided. A ‘no plastic lunchbox challenge’ has been introduced encouraging children and parents to think, “Do I really need plastic packaging?”

School assemblies about the alternatives to single-use plastics have also taken place. The children are also in the process of making plastic bottle greenhouses and the school has introduced a crisp packaging recycling scheme.

What do the children say?

Here’s some great quotes from some of the children from St Mary’s 🙂

Cali: “I think it’s so important to reduce and recycle plastic as it’s our world and we need to protect it.”

Eric: “We’ve learnt so much about recycling in our plastic topic and I think we should try and teach everyone how important it is and why.”

Austeja: “We want people to think before they buy plastic. Do they really need to buy it or can they use a reusable item such as a bag, lunchbox or bottle instead?”