STUDENTS at Uphill Village Academy who have worked tirelessly to protect their community from environmental harm have earned a national award for their school.

The team of green activists have led a whole-school effort to identify the plastics which were being brought into school, and worked to reduce them.

Pupils at the Weston-super-Mare school designed and led assemblies, newsletters and lunchtime activities to educate their classmates about the harm of single-use plastics and encouraging them to use alternatives instead.

And this work was not limited to the classroom, with the children also encouraging their families to reduce plastic use in the home.

Their work has resulted in the accreditation of Plastic Free School status awarded by the organisation Surfers Against Sewage.

Plastic Free Schools is a pupil-led, ground-breaking programme designed to equip young people with the tools to understand the problems of single-use plastic.

It starts with conducting a single-use audit across the school and throughout the year works towards reducing the use of unnecessary single-use plastic from school, for good.

The programme also encourages the children to reach out to local businesses to encourage them to reduce the amount of plastic they use as well.

Uphill Village Academy teacher Mark Hancock, who co-ordinated the initiative, said: “Our aim is to free where we live from single-use plastic: the avoidable stuff that’s everywhere.

“Things like plastic drinks bottles, disposable coffee cups, sauce sachets, bathroom plastics, excessive food packaging, takeaway containers, etc.

“The list is quite exhaustive. These are the things that are having a huge impact on our environment and which we can make changes in our lives to eliminate.

“The children have been passionate about making these changes and have been fantastic advocates.

“They have also encouraged their families to make changes in the homes, too, which is a great.”