Plastic Free St Anne's

Sunday 28 June 2020

St Anne's School has been granted Plastic Free Status after the pupils met a number of criteria set by an international environmental organisation.

Surfers Against Sewage campaigns for "a thriving ocean and thriving people" through a community effort "dedicated to the protection of oceans, waves, beaches and wildlife".

Pictured: St Anne's School is now 'Plastic Free'.

The charity sets objectives for communities to work towards in a number of areas including to be designated 'Plastic Free'.

Now, thanks to the hard work and enthusiasm of the pupils, Alderney's only school has achieved Plastic Free Status. To do that, the students had to complete a number of activities including:

• Holding ‘Trash Mobs’ on the school site, at local beaches and in the wider island during activities week to remove plastic and litter from the community
• Lobbying the States of Alderney and companies such as Haribo, Coca Cola and Walkers to ask them what they were doing about the amount of plastic found discarded
• Stopping the use of plastic milk and water bottles in the school, and reducing the amount of plastic in lunch boxes
• Recycling crisp packets
• Hosting an assembly to secondary pupils about reducing plastics in school and the wider island
• Introducing Darla the Dolphin to younger pupils, a soft toy being used to help explain the harmful effects of single use plastics

The Head Teacher Martin Winward told the pupils' parents he was very proud of all of them for their hard work, which will benefit the whole island.

Pictured: St Anne's School is now 'Plastic Free'.

“I think you will agree that the young people have made a real impression and it is hoped this will continue to inspire us all to be ‘plastic’ aware. There is still more to do and we will continue our work to help keep our school site and local community as plastic free as possible.”

Mr Windward thanked Maria Collier for leading the initiative with colleagues across a number of curriculum areas in primary and secondary education. St Anne’s also had support from the Alderney Wildlife Trust, the Alderney Farm Shop, Alderney Shipping and the States of Alderney to achieve its new status.

Pictured top: St Anne's School is now 'Plastic Free'.