A GREEN-thinking team at a Wrexham high school is celebrating some prestigious news.
The Ysgol Clywedog Eco-Taskforce has achieved Young Tree Champion National Beacon School Status from the Tree Council. A highly sought after and hard won accolade they are all rightly very proud of.
Head of geography, horticulture and all things Eco-Taskforce at the school, Nicholas Brown, said: "The world is facing an environmental crisis, threatening everyone's future, especially young people and children, who will be most affected.
"National Beacon Schools are given the support, resources, training, platform and unique opportunities to help enable their teachers and pupils to maximise the impact of their whole school and local community in a positive and effective way.
Growing produce in the Ysgol Clywedog Eco-Taskforce.
"National Beacon Schools actively help and encourage other schools to become a force for nature. The aim of the programme is to improve the schools teachers' and pupils' health and wellbeing through connecting with trees and nature. This in turn will have a positive knock-on effect on pupils' grades and improve mental health.
"Since we started the Eco-Taskforce in 2019 it has grown from strength to strength and this endorsement from the Tree Council confirms to us that we are heading in the right direction."
The school started with a single disused field and now has allotments, bee hives, litter picking volunteers, woodland, and orchard and a wildflower meadow. Next Year they aim to offer a number of pupils an RHS Level 2 in horticulture.
Ysgol Clywedog Eco-Taskforce.
This is a new qualification for the school that could lead pupils into a whole host of outdoor working. The school will be working closely with Erddig National Trust in the practical aspect of this course.
The covid pandemic had a huge impact on pupils' mental health, social skills and ability to learn in a classroom setting. The Beacon School Status, Eco-Taskforce and RHS Horticulture Qualification allows them to learn in a very different way in a very different type of classroom.
There was a second reason to celebrate, as the school has also been awarded the British Council International Schools Award.
Nicholas added: "We worked with Darland School and schools in Lebanon and Spain on a number of environmental projects to gain this amazing recognition."
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