8 July 2022

Pupils join forces to make H&F cleaner and greener

Local pupils met up this week to share stories and successes behind some pioneering ecological projects at their schools.

Mudlarks conference delegates from Normand Croft community school

Local pupils met up this week to share stories and successes behind some pioneering ecological projects at their schools.

Students from Year 4 and 5 met at the Lyric Hammersmith theatre on Tuesday (5 July) as part of the Mudlarks Project.

Classes from Good Shepherd, Melcombe Primary, Normand Croft, Old Oak, Sulivan Primary and Wendell Park each presented to the conference, on themes based around their environmental and ecology lessons over the school year.

Topics included reducing the use of plastic at school, cleaning up litter from the Grand Union Canal, and improving recycling rates.

Cllr Alex Sanderson, H&F Cabinet Member for Children and Education, said: "Protecting our environment and working towards a cleaner borough is incredibly important work. It's great to see pupils applying their learning and helping to make H&F the greenest borough in Britain."

Check out pictures from the conference here.

Mudlarks

The young Mudlarks also heard from H&F officers who thanked the children for their fantastic work in saving local wildlife and promoting climate and ecology awareness across the borough.

The Mudlarks project was launched in 2019, in partnership with Urbanwise.London, a local educational charity who help deliver the climate and ecology studies curriculum to primary schools across the borough.

The Mudlarks project teaches children about water ecology, pollution, art, music, recycling and upcycling, and current environmental research and scientific investigation.

The project brings primary schools and local H&F businesses together for climate related activities, including workshops, trips and, in 2020, a music video for their 'Campaigning Mudlarks' song on YouTube.

You can sing along to learn the words here.

Local businesses supporting the Mudlark project include the Ardmore Group, the Canal and Rivers Trust, the English Chamber Orchestra, Riverside Studios, Western Riverside Waste Authority, Thames Estuary Partnership, Hydrasyst, and the Royal College of Art to name a few.