Pupils and staff at Pennar Community School, Pembroke Dock have been celebrating after picking up an award in Keep Wales Tidy's innovation challenge, an initiative inspired by The Earthshot Prize.

As part of Climate Challenge Cymru, primary and secondary schools across Wales were invited to submit short videos capturing creative ideas to tackle one of five global challenges, or ‘Earthshots’: Build a Waste-Free World, Clean Our Air, Fix Our Climate, Protect and Restore Nature and Revive Our Oceans.

Pennar Community School won the highly competitive Build a Waste-Free World category, with an inspiring film documenting their campaign to tackle food waste in school and at home. They were presented with their award by BBC presenter, Will Millard, at a special ceremony in Cardiff.

From 2021 to 2024, Climate Challenge Cymru was a regional initiative in mid and west Wales, led by the First Minister Eluned Morgan, who said: “I wanted to create something different - a platform that would unleash the creativity and passion of young people in Wales to tackle climate change.”

The competition is now managed nationally by Keep Wales Tidy's Eco-Schools team, in partnership with Welsh Government, and the winning videos can be seen on the Keep Wales Tidy website.

Pennar Community School Eco-Schools Lead Sian Taylor said:

“Our project was inspired by the issues raised in our annual COP (Conference of Pennar) Climate Conference, so the work has truly been led by the learners. Every pupil and member of staff has been involved, and it is ongoing in the school. We are absolutely delighted that their hard work and dedication has been recognised at the Climate Challenge Cymru awards.

“It has been super inspiring to see all the wonderful work happening in schools across Wales and has given us a lot of ideas for what we would like to focus on next year.”