A SHINFIELD primary school has been awarded £500 for winning a sustainability competition.
Year 6 pupils Libby, Kelsey and Viviana at Shinfield St Mary’s CofE Junior School designed a poster for the 3M Smart Earth Challenge competition.
The school will use the prize pot to bring their living wall concept to life.
It features plastic bottles, being given a second life as plant pots, and was inspired by the millions of bottles that go into landfill every day in the UK.
The competition had 32 entries across the country, and were judged by members of 3M’s European Sustainability team against criteria based around the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
All students that entered, along with the school’s head of ecology and sustainability, Matt Knight, attended a virtual presentation ceremony.
The teacher said children loved receiving feedback and appreciated the time the judges took to appraise every entry.
He said: “The 3M Smart Earth Challenge is a fantastic way to engage children in sustainability and environmental issues.
“It helped our pupils to really stop and think about the resources we consume within our school and how we could reduce our carbon footprint. They came up with some really fantastic ideas and conducted some brilliant research to support them.
“We look forward to constructing our first living walls and are really proud of what all the children achieved.”
Application engineering manager, Sarah Chapman, said the judges liked the practical and easy use of plastic bottles.
“The project is also a great fit with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of recycling and repurposing existing materials and enhancing the natural environment,” she said.
“Congratulations Libby, Kelsey and Viviana.”
