Eco School's Environmental Forum - 29th March 2022

Our School's Roots & Shoots Eco Group were invited to the 'Eco School's Environmental Forum' which was held at the Mayor of Ashford's chambers on the afternoon of Tuesday, 29th March. The children were extremely excited to be chosen to attend such an event, and for the opportunity to be meeting Cllr Callum Knowles, the Mayor of Ashford and Claire Norman from Ashford Borough Council. The event had nine other Eco Groups in attendance from local schools from the Ashford Borough Council area.The children had the great privilege to be able to sit at the council desks and use the councilors' microphones to ask and answer questions. They also had the opportunity to discuss their views on the topic of the afternoon: the impact of climate change and how we can help.First, they listened to the host of the event (Claire Norman, the Ashford Council Waste and Recycling Education Officer) as she spoke about the importance of looking after our environment and the role everyone had to play in reducing the impact of waste on our planet.  She then asked the children what they thought the council could do to help with this problem in our local borough. The children spoke about water saving devices being supplied by the local water company, more signs and bins put around to make people aware of littering, more recycling centres and more facilities for hard to recycle plastics.  They also had the opportunity to openly discuss their feelings on climate change using words like - devastation, destruction, pollution and suffering. It was very emotive as all the children felt very passionately about this subject and it showed.The event was very inspirational; it was nice to see the council taking the children's opinions into consideration and realising that they will play such an important role in saving our planet as they will inherit the problems we have caused now.