CHILDREN at a York primary school hope a whole lot of rubbish will help them win a national award.

Youngsters at Tang Hall Primary School have been recycling to make their school greener, and their scheme is now up for a national award from the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow.

The school has had a recycling scheme for many years, generating more waste for recycling than landfill.

While the scheme so far has focused on a weekly collection of recyclable paper, cardboard and plastic bottles by children from Years Five and Six, this year the school council wanted to do something more ambitious.

Teacher Fiona McCallion gave pupils the challenge of broadening the school’s green credentials, and the council decided on a theme of renewable energy for its project.

When the school’s site manager, Alan Briggs, came to them with the idea of building a solar-powered water heater from recycled materials, the school council took on the daunting task.

Mr Briggs said: “For health and safety reasons, I prepared the main parts of the solar panel and then, with the help of the school council, we assembled it together.

“Everyone had a go at doing something and, as I asked questions, I was pleased and impressed to see that the children knew quite a bit about the subject.”

The pupils then installed the heater in the school playground, with a little help from Rob Rawson, a volunteer at the nearby St Nicholas Fields Environmental Centre.

Chloe Collins, 11, a pupil at the school, said: “I think the solar panel has changed our school life. It has really changed the way we will be able to learn, and will help us with our science and maths lessons.”

The recycling project, entitled Making Tang Hall Primary School Greener, has now been entered into the new Speaker’s School Council Awards.

The awards have been created to recognise the most engaging achievements by school councils across the UK, in particular rewarding schools which have enhanced their relationship with the environment or their community.