An amazing collection by Wark pupils

Mar 1 2008 by Ben Guy, The Journal

A FESTIVE recycling effort by children at a Northumberland school will help youngsters in one of the poorest nations of earth as well as the environment.

Pupils from Wark First School took part in a Northumberland County Council competition to recycle as many Christmas cards as possible.

And the youngsters responded in dramatic style, bringing in more than 20,000 cards after the Christmas break.

Headteacher Sheila Edwards said: “Our children are very keen to help the environment and we thought it would be a good idea to join in.

“The amount of cards they have brought in has been absolutely amazing.

“We have been putting the cards in boxes at the front of the school and they have just kept flooding in.

“The children have worked hard to win this – it was fantastic to see them so enthusiastic about a project and they have learned a lot about recycling along the way.”

The school only has 41 pupils, meaning each child managed to bring in a average of almost 500 cards each to recycle. Mrs Edwards added: “We put up posters in post offices asking people to support us, as well as the children asking family and friends so it has been a real community effort.”

The school has also reused some cards by making them into things like gift tags, puppets, bookmarks and shopping lists.

County council officials will present the school with a £50 gift aid cheque as well as a framed certificate for their efforts.

And pupils at the school have decided that the winning money will be forwarded to their project link school, Mae Juu Primary School in Tanzania.

Sheila Johnson, waste minimisation officer for the council, said: “Over 84,000 cards have been recycled in various ways by all the schools that took part which is an amazing achievement.

“The fact that children from Wark recycled almost a quarter of this amount should make them very proud.”