"Four years ago Pembroke Dock Community School was part of a pilot project in Pembrokeshire called - Health Promoting Schools Project. As part of this programme of work we looked at various 'Actions' - Nutrition, Exercise, Safety, Ethos and Environment. The last 'Action' was started when we moved to our new school in September 2001. Although the school was new the playground was in need of attention, it lacked markings and flowers. We established an Eco Committee with nominated members from classes Year One - Year Six. The whole school submitted ideas for playground markings and committe members decided how the playground would be marked. We had some 95 planters around the school, which were initially planted by the company who built the school. Year five and Year Three became involved with the SCAN project linked to the National Museum of Wales. A number of plants were planted and their growth was monitored and entered into a national database. We decided to enter the 'School in Bloom' competition. A group of mums came to our rescue and helped with the initial planting of flowers. This year Year Five and Three are growing flowers from seeds supervised by our mums! As part of the Environment 'Action' we decided to work towards the Green Flag Award. The children decided on a set of school rules which they called our School Eco Code. Copies of this were displayed in each class and in the playground. We decided to recycle the paper we wasted and we contacted FRAME. 'Sidney Seal' visited the school to explain the procedure to the children. In addition we collect newspapers each Friday morning and pass them on to a local Scout group for recycling. When we realised we use almost 1,000 plastic milk bottles each week we started recycling them also. Eco Committee members collect them daily and a member of staff takes them home for recycling. We are also encouraging wildlife to enjoy our school environment by placing three nesting boxes and three bird tables in the playground. At the end of the Summer Term 2002 we staged a musical production called 'Project Rescue' which involved all children from Years Five to Six. The production was based on a group of children who were littering their environment. We applied for the Green Flag Award and Mr. Jerry Taylor came to assess our work. He interviewed the Eco Committee members who answered all his questions successfully. As a result of this and evidence of our hard work we were awarded the Green Flag in November 2002. We held a flag raising ceremony and recycled the songs the children had learned from 'Project Rescue' and we invited a number of people who had helped us to share in our celebrations. We are now working towards a Sustainable Schools Award which focuses upon Energy, Community and Biodiversity Update: December 2003 The school have been working towards a Sustainable Schools Bronze Award. Year three have looked at their journey to school, year four studied the Cleddau River at Milton, year five examined the impact of Carew Quarry and Oakwood on Pembroke Dock; finally year six compared the school environment with an area of reclaimed land on which the Pioneer Store has been built. All children took part in fieldwork and this heightened the children's awareness of biodiversity. In September we gained our Bronze Sustainable Schools Award. We are the first school in Pembrokeshire to do this. Work is currently underway for the Silver Award." Anthea Finn - Year Six Teacher, PSE and RE Co-ordinator Pembroke Dock Community School

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