Pupils from the Eco Committee and ECO club at Stepaside CP School are excitedly waiting to hear the results of a recent competition.

Climate Challenge Cymru is run by the Welsh Assembly Government and is supported by various organisations. The competition involved selecting a challenge from one of the supporting groups and completing various levels of challenge.

Pupils chose to join with Sustrans and to complete their challenge based around active travel to school, organising and recording a ‘walk and wheel’ to school event and measured the improvement in the number of active journeys.

They joined forces with Pembrokeshire County Council’s active travel coordinator and have held more events since the project finished.

“Getting a good start to the day with fresh air and exercise sets us all up for learning,” said headteacher Mr Peter Jones.

“The benefits of active travel reach beyond the classroom and into regular habits for life.

“The environmental impact of just a few small changes in our daily travel routine can have a big impact over time.”

During the project the staff and pupils highlighted safety issues connected with their route into school and these were addressed as part of the challenge.

A new foot gate was installed to allow safer drop off by parents and a route into school which eliminated the need to walk in the car park. The pupils also highlighted the environmental issues connected with parents leaving car engines running.

A news broadcast style video was made by pupils and shared with parents to highlight the work they have done and to remind parents of the importance of active travel, safe routes and turning off their engines in the school grounds.

The students’ work has been recognised by the judges of Climate Challenge Cymru and they have boon shortlisted for an award.

They will travel to the Senedd in Cardiff Bay on July 11 for the prize ceremony to see how they faired against other primary schools in Wales.

Mrs Williams, ECO Schools coordinator at the school said: “I am so proud of what the children have achieved throughout the year in their studies and extra curricular efforts.

“We are going for our ECO schools Platinum award later this term too and this competition has given us a great end to that environmental work.

“We can’t wait to go to the Senedd and see how we got on and to see what other schools across Wales got up to.”