PS in Bellarena shortlisted for £10,000 award

Such was the standard of the local Primary School’s entry in a recycling competition, they were selected as one of the top five out of 6,500 to be shortlisted for the award of an ‘eco-garden’.

Judges were wowed by pupils’ budding artistic talents, knowledge of the environment and the importance of recycling: demonstrating how their Litterbug could re-use and recycle their classroom rubbish.

The Little Litterbug competition was open to pupils 11 years of age and under and encouraged children across the country to think about the environmental impact their classroom rubbish has on the eco-system.

This gave pupils the chance to showcase their talents by drawing, colouring or painting a Little Litterbug – a creature or machine that can recycle their classroom waste, the pupil that designed the most creative Little Litterbug will win the eco-garden for their school.

The final winner of the competition will be announced in September and will be chosen by a representative from the Support Your School recycling scheme, who have partnered the competition from the outset.

The principal of St Anthony’s, Mrs Bradley, told the Sentinel of her surprise at coming out ahead of so many other entrants and her delight at being shortlisted. She said: “We are very hopeful that we win. The eco-garden is something which would be so useful for the pupils.

“We created the litterbug project last year, it was a design by the pupils for this thing that would ‘eat’ up the rubbish. The children loved taking part in it and it is amazing that we were selected out of so many entries. 6,500? That is fantastic. We are so pleased.”

Jackie Buckwell, Corporate Environmental Manager at Office Depot, said: “We have been overwhelmed with the number of entries we have received for the competition. The level of imagination and creativity from all ages has been so impressive that Support Your School Scheme will have an extremely difficult job to do when picking the overall winner.”