Jane Goodall Roots & Shoots Awards 2023
This year, we had the amazing news that we had been chosen to be one of the nine schools selected to be part of the Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots Awards 2023. To be one of the chosen nine, is a huge achievement as there are well over 1000 schools in the UK alone who are part of this education programme. We were lucky enough to be chosen back in 2021 but, due to the Covid Pandemic, that was a virtual award ceremony; this time we had to travel up to the Barbican Centre in London to be there in person.On 3rd March, four lucky children who always take part in all things environmental in school, joined two members of staff to travel up to the awards ceremony. After a long but fun journey, we found our way to the venue. Once there, we set up our display area and then spent the morning discussing our projects and campaigns to everything who visited our stand (campaigns like : Aquasmart - saving water, Recyclabots and EMR - recycling scrap metal, The Ironman - upcycling crisp packets turning them into insulated blankets, (Pre)Loved Clothes Sale - reducing clothes into landfill and helping our local community, Green Tree School Status - planting trees, Toilet Twinning Scheme - raising funds to build toilets in Uganda & Mawali, SwitchOff Fortnight - saving energy for the school, and then achieving our Eco School Green Flag status with Distinctions). The children did a fantastic job, eagerly explaining to every visitor about all the exciting things we have achieved, present and past. We also had the great honour of having a visit from Dr Jane Goodall, who was extremely interested in what we had been doing and spent lots of time talking to all the children to find out more.
After a delicious lunch, everyone went to the theatre area to watch all the schools' video presentations, and the wonderful Trashion Show of recycled and upcycled outfits presented by the Accrington St Christopher’s girls. It was so inspiring seeing what all the other schools had been doing and we came away with even more ideas for the future.Then it was time for the award ceremony itself. First, we received our trophy, alongside all the other schools, for being chosen for the Roots & Shoots Awards which was very exciting as the prizes were handed out by Dr Jane Goodall, herself. Then came the prizes for the Action Climate: Race to Zero Award where The Do School sponsored three prizes of £1,500 and we were one of the lucky schools to receive one of these prizes. Whilst we were getting over this completely unexpected accolade, we found out we had also won the overall 'Most Outstanding Group' Award sponsored by the RSPCA - we were overjoyed but in shock. It was extremely overwhelming to be recognised for our efforts by such prestigious groups.
The whole day was totally amazing, and such a fantastic experience for us all.Also, thank you to Rubin Besureis for the amazing photos to remember our day by.