PUPILS at a York secondary school are fighting climate change by planting hundreds of trees.

The youngsters from Archbishop Holgate’s CE School in Badger Hill have planted 105 trees in the school grounds to support the Woodland Trust’s Big Climate Fightback campaign.

The tree planting event was organised by the schools’ Green Leaders, a sixth form action group, who are keen to see the school community reduce its environmental impact.

Amelia Barber, Bailey McBride, Edith Pearse and Sophie Eastwood are all Green Leaders.

Collectively they said: “Any small step is worth it when it comes to reducing our impact on the planet.”

The Green Leaders have been helped by students from across the school who are all determined to improve their local environment and enable the school to do its bit to help tackle climate change.

The Big Climate Fightback campaign aims to get a million people to plant a tree to help reduce carbon emissions, fight flooding and reduce pollution.

The trees were donated to the school by the Woodland Trust who have sent out over 700,000 trees to schools and communities across the country to support tree planting events.

Geography teacher, Helen Clarke, helped organise the event. She said: “We knew there were a lot of reasons to plant trees, including improving the school site and helping the Woodland Trust with its aim.

"However, encouraging students to take any step in improving the environment is a lesson we want all to learn."

Archbishop Holgate’s CE School is part of Pathfinder Multi Academy Trust, a partnership of ten church and community schools serving more than 4,000 pupils and their families across York.

The other schools in the trust are all primaries: Heworth CE, Hempland, Tang Hall, Rufforth, New Earswick, St Lawrence's CE, Clifton and Rawcliffe, Badger Hill and Acomb.