Scarborough and Bridlington schools step up commitment to environment
Schools under St. Margaret Clitherow Catholic Academy Trust is celebrating Earth Day early
A number of schools in Scarborough and Bridlington are highlighting their commitment to the environment ahead of Earth Day.
The 17 schools in Yorkshire - two secondary and 15 primary - under St. Margaret Clitherow Catholic Academy Trust will be joined today by a host of famous faces, individuals and speakers from various organisations and charities to mark celebrations.
They are celebrating Earth Day early as global Earth Day on the 22nd of April falls in the school holidays.
Margaret Land, Sustainability Officer, said:
“Every day is ‘Earth Day’ for the students and staff at St Margaret Clitherow, as we continue to work towards the 2030 nationwide ‘Let’s Go (carbon) Zero’ campaign.
“The theme for Earth Day this year is ‘Invest in our Planet’, and our schools are continuing their commitment to protect the planet by planting trees, litter picking, beach combing, making bird feeders and helping the wildlife to thrive.”
The Trust has lined up an array of speakers and environmentalists as well as WWF ambassador and Cold Feet actor, Cel Spellman, and Mike Green, Chief Operating Officer of The Department for Education, offering their words of support via video, other headline speakers include the UK's leading sea-ice scientist, a marine biologist, a beekeeper, a flood alleviation specialist, and a seal protector.
Key organisations visiting the schools include Surfers Against Sewage, The Woodland Trust, The University of York, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and climate action solutions company, Ashden – who lead on the national schools’ campaign ‘Let’s Go Zero’. Major household names also getting involved are Octopus Energy, Nestle, and Harmony Energy.
11-year-old Aydin is a Year 6 pupil at St. Peter's R.C. Primary School in Scarborough. He said: "We're holding a competition where you have to design the best garden for the eco committee and we're actually going to build it, whoever draws the best one, and we've got some designs. We've sent some letters out to some garden centres to sponsor us so they can help us build it.
"A lot of people drop litter and things like that and if you teach a child that dropping litter is wrong, you've got to pick it up and drop in the bin then if they see any other people doing it or their parents or someone, then they'll tell them not to instead of just leaving it. It's obviously not their fault if they didn't know but they could tell them if they did know and it would be better.
"You can go on beach cleans picking up litter because it can harm the animals, get washed into the sea and a lot of the sea life will be harmed and we don't want that. Definitely not."
Year 7 pupil at St. Augustine's School in Scarborough, Izzy, who is 12 years-old, said: "I think it's really important for us to learn about how to take care of the environment because in the future, we're going to be ones teaching the next generation and if we don't know then nobody is going to be able to teach them.
"Just doing one thing whenever you can, even if it's a little thing, it all adds up to something great."
11-year-old Tiggy is from the same school and year, he said: "Write to Parliament to make the environment top of the agenda."
Amy Rice, CEO of St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Academy Trust, said:
“Sustainability has always been at the heart of everything we do as a Trust, from investing in a dedicated sustainability manager, embedding it into our curriculum, building it into our decision-making, as well as being one of the first Trust’s to adopt the ‘Let’s Go Zero’ pledge.
“With an ambitious mission to become the first net-zero academy trust in the UK, the schools are looking forward to celebrating all that they have achieved in the last 12 months, as well as their exciting plans for the year ahead.”
The schools will mark the start of their Earth Day celebrations with a live, virtual call from Arctic Scientist, Prof. Peter Wadhams, credited with being one of the first scientists to show that the ice that once covered the Arctic Ocean was beginning to thin and shrink.
Speaker line-up at schools in Scarborough and Bridlington
St Augustine’s, Scarborough
• Alex Green, Schools Programme Manager at climate charity, Ashden Trust - who leads the national schools’ campaign ‘ Lets Go Zero’ - will be returning again this year. Alex will be visiting St. Augustine’s, Scarborough to meet their Year 7 and 8 students.
St George’s, Scarborough
• The Yorkshire Seal Group will be visiting the children at St. George’s School, Scarborough to discuss their passion for protecting and preserving grey and common seals. They say: ‘they take their convictions and turn them into actions’
St Peter’s. Scarborough
• Steve, local businessman and the Scarborough representative for Surfers Against Sewage (who lead the Plastic Free Schools’ Award) will be joining St. Peter’s School in Scarborough. Steve, an amazing campaigner and keen surfer, is passionate about the environment and conservation. His work has included rescuing a seal injured by ocean litter.
Our Lady St Peter, Bridlington
• Sophie Wilson, a Marine Biologist working for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust will be joining the children at OLSP, Bridlington to pass on her passion for the seas and inspire them about the amazing world beneath the waves.
Last year, the Trust was the only academy group in Yorkshire to feature on the worldwide Earth Day map, highlighting their dedication to protecting the environment. This year is no exception, as the Trust continues to ensure climate change – as the Government plans for 2023 outline - is at the ‘heart of education’.
Climate change has been at the heart of the Trust’s curriculum since it was formed in 2019. The outstanding successes achieved to date have been recognised by the Department of Education’s Sustainable Schools Award as well as the individual schools’ Green Flag Accreditations.