BOASLEY Cross Primary School is celebrating success after a year's worth of hard work from staff and pupils paid off with an environmental award.

The school has spent the last year enrolled in the Low Energy Sustainable Schools Ashden Less CO2 programme, and was one of 14 schools in the south west looking to reduce their carbon emissions, save money and educate and raise awareness of environmental issues among pupils.

All schools involved had a year to change the school's habits and demonstrate a quantifiable change in energy consumption.

In addition, each school had to show how they had addressed the issue of culture within the school and qualify what they had put into place to evoke a positive attitude towards sustainable living.

Over the year the school was able to show that it could cut its dependency on electricity by almost 20%, saving money and lowering its carbon footprint.

As a result the school was awarded 'best overall improvement award' in a special ceremony at the Eden Project in Cornwall. The school was presented with their certificates by Dr Paula Owen, energy consultant and founder of Eco Action Games.

Boasley Cross' efforts were led by teacher James Coghill, who worked with key stage 2 children to raise awareness and teach them about the potential impacts of not living environmentally responsibly.

The children then put on an 'ear-bashing' event in which they could take the rare opportunity to nag their parents about carbon cutting and attempt to re-educate those that needed it.

Children then took part in EDF's 'switch off fortnight', policing teachers and fellow pupils to make sure no-one was wasting energy.

Mr Coghill said: 'It just goes to show that even a small school can have a big impact. A huge thank you has to go out to the children and staff of the school for their dedication over the year.'

Ashden Less CO2 facilitator Paula Owens said: 'These schools have shown that by taking simple steps to save energy they can make really significant savings, which can be ploughed back into education.

'They are also using their experiences to innovate their curriculum. This year's LESS CO2cohort has done particularly well and it would be great to see some of them applying for an Ashden School Award in future.'

The participation in the programme is not the first time the school has tried to be eco-friendly, with solar panels helping to reduce the carbon footprint further.

The environmental work will carry on in to the new academic year, with Mr Coghill and pupils determined to reduce the school's carbon footprint even further.