MILL RYTHE INFANT SCHOOL JOINT WINNERS IN THE LIVEABILITY CLEAN SCHOOL COMPETITION

- Sat 15th Jul 2006

Children and teachers alike were quite taken aback when normal proceedings during their morning assembly were interrupted by a surprise visit by Cllr Richard Brown, the Mayor of Havant, on Friday 14 July.  He had come to announce that Mill Rythe Infant School were joint winners in the Havant Borough Council’s Clean Schools Competition.

Teaching Assistant, Sally-Ann Lane, had signed up immediately for the competition launched in November 2005, as part of the £3.7m Liveability project. Havant Borough Council offered a £1,000 prize for the cleanest school or college in the borough, as part of a campaign to encourage everyone not to drop litter.

Pupils and staff at Mill Rythe Infant School are very proud of their environment, but were overwhelmed to receive this prestitious award.  Rangers had already visited the school to hand out Golden Envelopes containing £5 gift vouchers to lucky youngsters seen disposing of litter correctly.  

For the last year, Teaching Assistant, Mrs Janet Jackson, has taken groups of children each Friday to clear any rubbish found on the school grounds.  However, she has found that in recent months there has been very little to pick up.  She said, “The message has really hit home to both children and parents.”

During the Spring Term, Year 1 carried out a special project, “The Litter Bug”, and during this time the children were very fortunate to have met and interviewed four visitors, all of whom came to talk about litter and its effects on the community:  Detective Inspector John Geddon, Steve Abraham of Havant Borough Council, the Hampshire Fire Fighters and the RSPCA.  They found out why litter destroys our environment, why litter is dangerous and what we can all do about it.

The school is also actively recycling – snack-time fruit and vegetable waste is collected and added to the compost bin.

Sally-Ann Lane said “ I am so proud that our school has won this award - it has been a real team effort.  It’s a whole school approach that we have maintained for a long time and certainly intend to continue.”

Flushed with pride after their successful win, a group of children were taken out to the “cinder path” which runs from Mill Rythe to Tournerbury Lane where they picked up two large bin bag loads in less than an hour!  “That was fun,” they said, “can we go again?” 

By forum user, HIbot