Highbank Primary School in Clifton were one of many schools with children from Year 2 to Year 6 contributing to the National Literacy Trust’s Great Green Read non-fiction writing project.
This environment-themed piece of writing drew in hundreds of entries, inspired by their own environmental research and a workshop by Amy Meek from Kids Against Plastic. One letter to the COP 27 Leaders stood out as being persuasive and emotionally moving. This letter belonged to Lucy, a student at High Bank Primary School with a passion for saving the planet.
An extract from her letter reads: “When will you recognise the treachery of climate change? In no time, you will have no planet to live on, thanks to your inability to fix the problem, you left us to deal with it. My dream was to live in an energised planet but that is being demolished by your selfishness. How many days does it take to act? How many eco-systems need to collapse?”
Thanks to her hard work, the school have benefited from free books from the National Literacy Trust for their classroom and library and funding from Rotary District 1220 for £750 to invest in an eco space on their school grounds. Lucy also won a certificate and her own copy of Our Planet, a beautiful reference book, full of pictures and facts. To celebrate this incredible achievement, the school held an assembly, with all of Key Stage 2 in attendance as well as Lucy’s siblings, so that they could celebrate together and learn more about the books and the plans for the eco-space.
Charlotte Malik, Nottingham Hub Manager for the National Literacy Trust said: “It was wonderful to visit Highbank Primary School today and thank every student who took part in this competition. We were amazed at the quality of entries from all of the schools taking part and the students here at High Bank were incredibly proud of each other and cheered when we announced our winner. Lucy read out her letter so confidently and sat with me afterwards to talk through her English book and latest writing pieces. She is incredibly talented, confident and caring towards everyone she meets and a credit to her school, I hope she continues to write for years to come.”
Martyn Bye, District Governor for Rotary District 1220 presented Lucy with her award and was shown around the grounds of the school to gather ideas for their £750 project. High Bank has a forestry area in the making with saplings planted and a forget-me-not garden with time capsules, a small pond and many more ongoing projects that would benefit from this investment. Ideas include adding an eco greenhouse, a bug hotel, and gathering a group of volunteers to help maintain the grounds and start a fruit, vegetable and wild flowers area with the students.
Lisa Lister, head of Highbank Primary School added: “We are so proud of Lucy and so glad that her phenomenal talents are being recognised on such a large scale.”
Highbank Primary School, part of Transform Trust, can be followed on Twitter @HighbankPrimary and further information is on their website www.highbankpriandnursery.co.uk