Stepaside School pupils scoop Climate Challenge Cymru award

Staff and pupils of Stepaside CP School were delighted to win a Climate Challenge Cymru project award at the Welsh capital this month.

Staff and pupils were invited to Cardiff earlier this month to an awards ceremony in the Pierhead building after the school was announced as the winner in the Sustrans category and were presented with certificates and medals, after pupils had recently entered the Climate Challenge Cymru project.

Sustrans also gifted two scooters for use in school, and all prize winners were treated to lunch and a boat tour of Cardiff Bay.

“We are very proud of the achievement of our Eco Committee and Eco Club,” commented headteacher Mr Peter Jones.

“They have worked very hard to encourage the whole school community to get involved and actively travel to school.

“They thoroughly enjoyed working on the project and their trip to Cardiff to receive the award from MS Eluned Morgan and the Sustrans representatives.

“We are grateful for the support the pupils received from Mrs Williams, our school admin officer, who leads our ECO Committee and Club,” he added.

For Climate Challenge Cymru, partner organizations set challenges for pupils to complete, and following a ministerial visit from Senedd Member Eluned Morgan in March the pupils set about their Active Travel challenge.

Partnered with Sustrans the school entered the Walk and Wheel event and registered their active journeys.

Members of the Eco Club introduced the challenge in an assembly and then measured the schools improvement in walking and wheeling to school.

They produced a powerpoint of their results. Realising from their research and evidence that more pupils could walk to school, they then made a video for the school community outlining the benefits of walking to school, highlighting the safe routes to school and also the dangers to the environment of idling engines in the car park.

The video can be viewed on the school website at: www.stepasideschool.co.uk

Pierhead in Cardiff Bay was abuzz with enthusiasm as primary school students from across Mid and West Wales gathered for the first in-person 'Climate Challenge Cymru' awards, hosted by Labour Senedd Member for Mid & West Wales, Eluned Morgan.

The event celebrated young learners for their contributions and commitment to combating climate change.

The project was run in collaboration with several Welsh environmental organisations, including - WWF Project Seagrass, the RSPB, Castell Howell, Sustrans, Tir Coed, Keep Wales Tidy and Surfers Against Sewage and featured contributions from Climate Change Minister, Julie James and Deputy Future Generations Commissioner, Marie Brousseau-Navarro.

The project has served as a platform for students to showcase their ideas to address the pressing issue of climate change through a number of practical and research challenges, helping learners understand more of what is required for a more sustainable future.

Commenting on the awards, Eluned Morgan MS, who founded the project, said:

“I am absolutely thrilled that the ‘Climate Challenge Cymru’ schools project has received such a fantastic response. It has been incredibly inspiring and heartening to see so many young learners engaged and enthused about climate issues.

“We must continue to support and nurture their enthusiasm, as they are the driving force behind the positive change we desperately need. Together, we can build a sustainable Wales that future generations will be proud to inherit.”