Press Release Inter-School Environmental Action Award

The Marches School’s Eco Club have won the Borderland Rotary Club Inter-School Environmental Action Award for ‘the dedication and commitment of their students to participate in a tree planting activity in partnership with Oswestry Town Council as well as environmental activities designed to enhance biodiversity and improving the outdoor learning environment of the school grounds’.

In summary, the Marches entry showcased key actions they had taken across the school site:

Marches School students have planted over 1000 hedgerow trees which will provide habitats and food for insects, birds and small mammals. The trees for this project were provided by The Woodland Trust, Shropshire Council, with help from the Oswestry Wildlife Trust, Oswestry Council and Whittington Castle Trust.

Students at the Oswestry based school have made and regularly fill bird feeders in the school’s Eco Garden. They then monitor bird life and have taken part in the RSPB Big Schools Birdwatch. Students have also installed a hedgehog house, kindly donated by CJ Wildlife, and put out food, water and shelter.

The Marches School also worked with the Shropshire Wildlife Trust, with funding from the Ernest Cook Foundation (as part of the Green Influencers Scheme) in order to restore the school’s pond. Students then surveyed invertebrates, tested for nitrates and phosphates, and have been researching aquatic plants ready for installation.

Overall, Borderland Rotary Club were particula rly impressed with the Marches School’s partnership with other organisations in the community such as Oswestry Council, The Woodland Trust and Shropshire Wildlife Trust. Justin Soper urged Eco Club members to “keep going because you are our planet’s future”.

Justin and Sherie Soper from Borderland Rotary Club presented the school with a beautiful trophy of a bumblebee to represent the Marches commitment to the Rotary Club International’s Operation Pollination campaign, along with a certificate and a £30 Booka Bookshop book token to be used to purchase eco/environment related books for their school library.

Pictured: Mara Goodwin, Ailsa Woolley, Dr Helen Renwick, Lukas Hamilton, Leah Ellis, Sherie Soper, Justin Soper, Charie Ide, Tabitha Land. Thanks also to Mr Carl Hopley (not pictured).