The first ever Pembrokeshire School Council Conference was held recently at the Pembrokeshire Water Sports Centre.
Pupils from all eight secondary schools in Pembrokeshire attended, along with teachers and youth workers, for a day of fun and thought-provoking workshops.
School councils are being set-up all over the UK - pupils elect representatives from each class onto the council, whose job is to make changes for the better. The conference was designed to help secondary schools think about sustainable development and what sort of actions they could take in their school.
Guest speaker was Claire Fowler, from the RSPB, who gave an informative talk about sustainable development. This provided some essential background for the workshops to come on waste, water, energy, and transport.
Workshops were provided by Clare Williams and Claudia Ludescher-Howells, Pembrokeshire County Council; Sheila Payne from the West Wales Eco Centre; Steve Stockham, Pembrokeshire County Council; and Janie Pridham, of Global Connections.
A decision-making exercise followed lunch, after which pupils developed action plans to take back to their schools.
The water competition was won by the blue team, who received Fairtrade biscuits and bananas donated by Kilgetty Co-op for their journey home.
The day provided a marvellous opportunity for pupils to mix with counterparts from other schools and the general feedback as the day's events ended was very positive.
The co-ordinator of the conference would like to extend a special thank you to Claire Fowler from the RSPB, all workshop providers on the day and the following schools for taking part: Ysgol Bro Gwaun, Milford Haven School, Pembroke School, Sir Thomas Picton School, Tasker Milward School, Greenhill School, Ysgol Dewi Sant and Ysgol y Preseli.