Children at Medstead Primary School have earned an international accreditation – with merit – recognising their amazing work in making their school more environmentally friendly and raising eco-awareness in fellow pupils.

They first formed an eco-committee, then collaborated with outdoor lead teacher Lucy Henderson to conduct an environmental review, assessing how eco-friendly their school was.

They reviewed everything from biodiversity within the school grounds to how pupils and staff travelled to school. Building on their findings, pupils and Mrs Henderson then planned a year of action designed to advance their school’s green credentials, improve their local environment and protect the planet.

The eco-committee connected its work to three Eco-Schools topics: water, biodiversity and energy. It planned projects including assessing energy consumption, investigating solar panels and collecting Christmas jumpers to re-use.

Mrs Henderson said: “My highlight was seeing how delighted and passionate the children have been throughout this process, they particularly love their working lunches! I especially liked the letters one class wrote to the King explaining the projects they have been working on. This was made even more special when the King responded with a beautiful letter praising the children for their environmental efforts.”

Year 2 pupil Freddie said: “I am very proud to be a Young Environmentalist. We have supported Just One Tree Day and we raised £192, which will pay for 192 trees to be planted either in Brazil or Madagascar. We also asked for families to donate old Christmas jumpers which were then re-used.”

Medstead Primary School won an Eco-Schools Green Flag.

Eco-Schools England manager Adam Flint said: “It is an internationally recognised symbol of high environmental standards.”