Student’s environmental efforts recognised by Northumberland County Council

Now in their 14th year, ‘LOVE Northumberland – caring for our county’ is a campaign that aims to promote the work of the council and its partners in preserving and improving the environment in the county, celebrating community spirit and promoting county pride.

It’s aimed at getting everyone in Northumberland involved in keeping the county clean and green. Northumberland is known for its breathtaking scenery and wide-open spaces, but it also has a reputation for its environmental quality.

This year, KEVI Environment Council submitted an application for the ‘Best Young People’s Project’ and were announced as category winners by the Duchess of Northumberland on Wednesday 22nd June at the awards ceremony held at Alnwick Gardens.

Our Environmental Council is made up of students from Year 10 & 11; their aim is to raise awareness about environmental issues and develop project actions that will make a difference in school and the community. 

Working with Dai Richards from Keep Morpeth Tidy, the students developed and delivered a poster competition inviting young people from a number of schools across Morpeth to design a poster for the litter bins across the town. The competition gained lots of interested, with over 400 entries. The judges had a very difficult task choosing the shortlist, and overall winner. They planned a poster competition to engage children in all the Morpeth schools, inviting them to design posters that would encourage everyone in the town to bin their litter rather than drop it on the ground. Winning posters were then printed and placed onto all the litter bins around Morpeth. First, second and third prizes for the posters were given to pupils in every school with financial support from the Keep Britain Tidy group and support from Morpeth Rotary, The Lions, Town Council and GMDT.

Particular recognition must go to Dylan Sneddon, who showed excellent leadership, organisational skills and dedication to the project, along with Catalina Chaundler-Martinez and Jenny Marriott.

The poster competition created a lot of excitement around the town and in the schools. The feedback that we received from from children who entered their posters into the competition, and also their families was amazing. Everyone was really excited and delighted to see all the posters on display.

Dr Wendy Fail, Vice Chair of the School Governing Body, who attended the awards ceremony, stated, ‘I am extremely proud of all the efforts made by the Environment Council, and I am thrilled that their hard work has been recognised. It was a great privilege to represent KEVI at the awards ceremony and accept the award, along with Dylan and Dai, from the Duchess of Northumberland.”  

We are very proud of their efforts; they support the Net Zero ambition of the Three Rivers and aim to make all of our schools more sustainable. 

Our Environmental Council, supported by Sheila Clark also advise, present and make climate and environmental recommendations to the full School Council (approx. 120 students from year groups 9-13). Regular environmental and climate updates are also provided by the council to every student in KEVI via their Form groups and Form reps.