YOUNGSTERS at a York primary school have won £10,000 in a national climate change competition.

By reducing electricity emissions by a third, Our Lady’s RC Primary School, in Windsor Garth, Acomb, were crowned Climate Change Champions and awarded £10,000 prize money for the school, presented to them by York MP Hugh Bayley at the House of Commons.

The children of Our Lady’s decided to tackle the problems facing the environment head on, by taking part in a year-long project run in conjunction with Aviva, formerly Norwich Union, and environmental education charity Global Action Plan.

The aim of the project is to help students aged seven to 16 to understand climate change and cut their school’s waste and energy use.

The collective carbon footprint of Our Lady’s was measured alongside another York school, which totalled 50 tonnes.

Online pledges were made by students, staff members and parents which outined their promises to cut their carbon footprint. These were used with an audit of energy consumption to outline the pupils’ plan of action on how they aimed to reduce their school’s carbon footprint.

The audits showed a saving of electricity consumption totalling an amazing 37 per cent, which is enough energy to power a 1.7km of street lighting for one year, securing them one of the top two prizes offered by Aviva.

David Schofield, head of coroporate responsibility, Aviva UK, said: “I’m amazed by the success of the competition. The clear and measureable improvement in energy and waste effciency shows how inspired the children were by the programme.”

Donald Sutherland, head teacher of Our Lady’s, said: “Everyone was involved, the caretaker, teachers and pupils, it really was a group effort.”

“The children held a poster competition to raise awareness amongst staff and pupils.

Anna Siddall, aged ten, a pupil at the school, said its the success was due to “everyone in the school remembering to switch off lights and computers, opening blinds to let the light in. It was an effort by the whole school”.

Harriet Rodwell, ten, another pupil at the school, said: “We noticed at the weekend a lot of electricity was being wasted and we asked the cleaners to help by cutting down how much they used.

“We asked them not to turn on all the lights in the morning which helped.”

The school is currently making plans how to spend the prize money.