East Acton Primary and North Primary, Southall

Pupils from two Ealing Council primary schools have turned green ideas into hard cash after scooping prizes in this year's London Schools Envrionmental Awards.

North Primary School, Southall won a distinction award of £2,000 and East Acton Primary School won a highly commended award of £1,000.

Pupils from the two schools joined Ealing Council's Recycling Officer, Beverley Simonson to represent the borough at a special award ceremony held at City Hall on Wednesday 4 July 2007.

Both schools impressed the judges by running green projects designed to make other pupils, parents, carers, teachers and the community to think green and take better care of the environment.

Primary schools from across the capital entered this year's awards which centred around the themes of litter and local environment, waste and recycling, energy, biodiversity, water and transport. Two schools from each borough were then selected for a distinction and highly commended award.

Catherina Holmes, Ealing Council Recycling Officer, said: "The judges were very impressed by the standard of the project work from all the schools taking part. The high standard of work showed that the children really understood the issues and came up with some excellent ideas to protect the environment. At a time when we are trying to boost recycling rates it is really pleasing to know that we have so many young residents who will be doing their bit to be green."

Judges comments on the winning entries:

Winner: North Primary School

A really well thought out project with great communication to parents, carers, children and staff as well as including the local community. A field trip was carried out looking at the pedestrianisation of the local high street, including interviews with local shopkeepers, the fire brigade, and the police. The children also wrote persuasive letters to MPs regarding the environment and climate change. The whole school is getting really involved in sustainability issues.

Runner-up: East Acton Primary School

A really innovative project with the nursery children making a Recycling monster with a Feed Me paper sign. The Recycling monster was lent to Ealing Council as it contained the project entry from the school! The garden area at the school is being greatly improved, also with the help of the local park rangers, and included children planting flowers in wellie boots. Sustainability is really becoming integrated into the school routine.

Nine schools in the borough entered the competition including:

1. Aston House School

2. Beaconsfiend Primary School

3. Brentside Primary School

4. Coston Primary School

5. Derwentwater Primary School

6. East Acton Primary School

7. North Ealing Primary School

8. North Primary School

9. Wolf Fields Primary School

The London Schools Environment Awards were set up by the Capital Standards Programme and are organised by the Mayor of London.

July 11, 2007