Middlesbrough: Schools Trust placed on global Earth Day map

Bird feeder at St John of Beverly Primary School

St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Academy Trust, which covers 17 schools in North Yorkshire - two secondary and 15 primary - has been officially placed on the global 'Earth Day' map due to their continued commitment to protecting the environment.

The Trust is the only academy group in Yorkshire to feature on the worldwide map, which details how the schools marked Earth Day (22 April) this year. An impressive line-up of speakers - including people from the government, The Woodland Trust, food waste charity 'Too Good to Go', The University of York, climate action solutions company, Ashden, and The Bishop of Middlesbrough - are just a small selection of the organisations who answered questions from the children as part of a special, virtual event.

Margaret Land, Sustainability Officer, for St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Academy Trust, said: "Without any prompting, the children delivered some fantastic questions for our speakers to answer. 'Is moving to Mars a realistic solution?' and 'how can we make sure our voices are heard?' are just a couple of the wonderful examples. Our students are passionate about how their daily actions impact on the environment around them and the speakers really inspired this further.

"The theme for Earth Day this year is 'Restore our Earth', and our schools continued their commitment to protect the planet by planting trees, litter picking, making bird feeders and helping the wildlife to thrive. Every day is 'Earth Day' for the students and staff at St Margaret Clitherow as we continue to work towards the 2030 nationwide 'Let's Go (carbon) Zero' campaign."

Two of the Trust's schools - St John of Beverley RC Primary, Beverley, and St Aelred's RC Primary, York - took part in a live Q&A on the 21 April with Alex Green from the Ashden Trust, who introduced some of their global award winners who have developed pioneering solutions to the climate crises. Alex is leading the national schools' campaign 'Let's Go Zero' of which the Trust is a flagship representative.

Other specific activities at the individual schools included:

St Francis Xavier Secondary School in Richmond planted 100 meters of mixed native hedge saplings (kindly donated by the Woodland Trust) as part of their ongoing green corridor project. The school has also volunteered to be part of the eduCCate Global climate change initiative with staff across several subjects being trained up.

St Mary's RC Primary School, Richmond Reception and Nursery children looked at caring for local wildlife, making a collection of different bird feeders for the outside areas. Other year groups looked at the Eden Project, deforestation of the Amazon, climate change and the effects of plastic in the ocean.

Sacred Heart School in Northallerton has recently been successful in their application to the British Trust for Ornithology and have been given books and binoculars to help make their forest school area a bird friendly zone.

All staff and children at St Wilfred's RC Primary in York took part in a dedicated curriculum day to celebrate Earth Day. Each phase of school focussed on a different 'we care' statement, which links to the message of 'Laudato Si', for example, 'We care about the world's oceans'.

St Mary & St Joseph RC Primary in Pocklington launched a recycling sculpture project. Children wore green as well as created a rainbow from coloured rubbish.

Our Lady and St Peter RC Primary School, Bridlington did some seashore beach combing and litter picking. Children wore green themed costumes - green in every sense - colour, recyclable/ recycled materials. The school also had a no electric-light day, and a range of event looked at the bio-diversity of the school grounds and how it can be improved.

St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Academy Trust is currently applying for government funding towards the school's decarbonisation plans and wants to apply for energy efficiency measures, such as insulation and solar PV, for all the Trust's schools.

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More about the Trust can be found at: www.smccat.org.uk.

The full speaker line-up included:

Alex Green, Schools Programme Manager at the Ashden Trust, leading the national schools campaign ' Lets Go Zero', - a video clip introducing some of their glob-al Ashden Award winners who have developed pioneering solutions to the climate crises. Alex and her team delivered two live Q&A sessions on the 21st April to St. John's, Beverley and St. Aelred's, York.

Tim Burkinshaw, An Ecologist and Biodiversity Officer for Scarborough Parks and Countryside Services. All about biodiversity including the issue of seagulls pinching your chips when you visit the coast.

Dr Bryce Stewart, Senior Lecturer and Marine Biologist from The University of York talked all about our Oceans. Dr Bryce also delivered a live Q&A session with OLQM (Our Lady Queen of Martyrs RC Primary, Holgate) on the 20th April.

Declan Burke (Director for Clean Power Strategy and deployment at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) - discussed what's happening inside Government to transition to Net Zero by 2050.

Craig Ralston, Reserve Manager at Wheldrake Ings Nature Reserve, York. He manages wildlife habitats and is a licenced bird ringer.

Jamie Crummie, Co-Founder of Too-GoodToGo' - a socially responsible company trying to tackle food waste by linking up surplus food with those who need it.

Helen Percival is a horticulturalist, working in the Scarborough area to promote the importance of Biodiversity.

Georgina Gunn, a Sustainability Analyst employed by Crown Estate, gave an insight into her work including some large scale clean energy projects such as offshore wind.

Kate Charrington, a self-employed Chartered Residential Surveyor working to bring sustainability into the construction industry. She talked about the importance of insulating buildings to improve energy efficiency.

Bex, ex-Trust student and representative for Sustainability at Newcastle University, studying politics and how this led to her interest in wanting to resolve big global issues such as climate change.

Annie Sheppard OBE, CEO SALIX FINANCE (provides interest-free Government funding to the public sector to improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and lower energy bills) talked about our changing weather and lots more!

Roger Parkinson BEM, Volunteer speaker for The Woodland Trust and Chair of the Wakefield Tree Wardens - discussed the importance of trees (and why he loves planting them!) for biodiversity/flooding and carbon capture.

Bishop Terry Drainey, Diocese of Middlesbrough- discussed our responsibility as 'Stewards of our Environment' and Pope Francis' Encyclical, 'Laudato Si'.