Mayor of London awards two local schools

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West Hill Primary School and Putney High School Junior Department commended for being green and environmentally friendly.

West Hill Primary School won a distinction award of £2000 and Putney High School Junior Department won a highly commended award of £1000 for their work for the local environment, as part of the London Schools Environment Awards. The Mayor was joined by TV presenter and wildlife photographer Chris Packham at a reception in City Hall where 65 London schools were praised and celebrated for their work for the environment.

The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said:
"It is important that children learn at an early age how to protect the environment by being aware of the threats posed by climate change and what they can do to make a difference. The age of an individual Londoner does not alter the impact that they can have on climate change - young and old are involved in the fight against global and local emissions. By educating children at primary school level, the London Schools Environment Awards foster children's sense of responsibility for their environment and at the same time influences the next generation's consciousness.

Ken Livingstone with pupils from West Hill School                  

"I really want to commend the hard work of the  children  and teachers who have got involved with the awards this year particularly West Hill Primary School and Putney High School Junior Department (pictured right) who submitted outstanding work. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Capital Standards boroughs, Thames Water, EDF Energy and Department for Education and Skills for their support for the London Schools Environment Awards".

In its fourth year, a record 752 schools across the capital registered for the awards scheme. A distinction award of £2000 and a highly commended award of £1000 were presented to two schools in each of the participating London boroughs.

The London Schools Environment Awards were set up by the Mayor of London and the 28 Capital Standards boroughs. They are run in partnership with the principal sponsor, Thames Water and are also supported by EDF Energy and the Department for Education and Skills. The Awards were set up to develop children's sense of responsibility for their environment and the focus for learning this year has been about climate change.

To make it easy for children to learn about how renewable energy can act as a way to combat climate change, each school that signed up to the awards scheme received a toolbox, which included a solar educational kit, which demonstrates how solar energy works. The Department for Education and Skills provided a grant to help fund the toolbox to support the scheme as part of the Year of Action on Sustainable Schools.

July 9, 2007