A HEAD teacher's dream to make her school a greener place iscoming true.
Just 18 months after Paula Masters took over the helm of HollyTrees primary in Warley, pupils and staff have taken on severalinitiatives to make the school more environmentally friendly.
And their actions have been rewarded by an outside body, as theschool has just received the Bronze Award in the national Eco Statusscheme, and is now working towards the silver award. Mrs Masterstold the Gazette: "When I joined Holly Trees 18 months ago there wasalready some fantastic work taking place to help look after theenvironment.
"Since then, we have gone from strength to strength, with thewhole school community working towards being 'greener'.
"The work was started by Dave Walton and Claire Reeves but, sincethey have both moved on, has been continued by Karen Bryce, actingdeputy, and Sue Ambrose, a learning support assistant.
"They meet the children regularly and help them to stay focusedon their action plan." She added: "At Holly Trees we all respecteach other and now have evidence that we respect our environmenttoo."
Representatives Leading the green campaign at the school are theEco-Heroes - two representatives from each of the classes whose jobit is to ensure everyone at school makes attempts to be greener byturning off lights and taps, collecting litter, composting fruit andvegetable peelings, and recycling waste in the classroom and atbreak and lunchtimes.
All children get a chance to help maintain the school'sallotments, including the youngest pupils who have their own newvegetable patch in the Reception outdoor learning area.
Fruit and vegetables that are grown are used in school meals andfood technology lessons.
The school also has its own beehives, and a local beekeeper dropsin regularly to collect the honey, helped by Year 6 pupils. Thehoney, along with wax candles, are sold at school fairs.
Their next plan is to start keeping chickens, and staff areliaising with Shenfield St Mary's Primary School, which is alreadykeeping its own hens, in a bid to learn from the students'experiences.
Continuing in the animal theme, the school has recently become amember of the Essex Wildlife Trust and each class has appointedjunior wardens who will visit Warley Place nature reserve once amonth to see how it develops over the year.
Enterprising environmentalism THE oldest pupils at Holly Treesare hoping to make a real difference to the environment at the sametime as practising their enterprise skills.
The Year 6 children are hoping to raise Pounds 1,000 to save aplant species. Through the Kew Gardens project, they have beenallocated the Plectranthus Unguentarius, a plant from the mintfamily.
It is close to extinction in Nambia, and the hope is that themoney raised will be used by Kew to extend cultivation projects.
Mrs Masters said: "The children are raising the funds through arange of sponsored and entertaining activities they are organisingentirely on their own.
"Year 6 went to Kew earlier this term to learn about the projectand the plant. The project enables them to help the environment andpractise their business skills."
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