CALLING all York schools - it's time to jump aboard our campaign to unearth the best community projects in the city.

As part of our Community Pride awards scheme, we want to hear about the schools in York that are making a real contribution to their environment.

Children from Tang Hall Primary School could be in line for an award this year, after it was nominated for the Best Primary School project by teaching assistant Julie Coulter-Bell.

Mrs Coulter-Bell said the school had embarked on several recycling projects which had sparked a genuine enthusiasm among pupils and the wider community. Their schemes included decorating wheelie bins to promote recycling, making weekly recycling collections from each classroom, home-made bird feeders hung round the perimeter of the school, and a renovation garden project.

Mrs Coulter Bell said: "It's not just what we've done in the school - it's the way it's impacted on the community."

Meanwhile, Dringhouses Primary School pupils have been getting on their bikes to help the environment - earning them a nomination from the city council's school travel plan co-ordinator, Catherine Heinemeyer.

Ms Heinemeyer said the school had dramatically improved environmental problems around its premises caused by too much car congestion.

Residents, parent governors and staff had formed a committee to tackle the situation by lobbying for a new zebra crossing, introducing parking restrictions around the school, and encouraging pupils to walk or cycle to their lessons.

The school was chosen for a cycling pilot scheme by national sustainable transport group Sustrans, and the numbers of pupils being driven to school has dropped by ten per cent to just a third.

Catherine said: "The award is about making a difference to the local environment - and I thought this school had most achieved that.

"Now every pupil in that school desperately wants to walk or cycle there."

Last year the best school project prize in our Community Pride awards was won by St Peter's School, which was nominated by the Glen Family Resource Centre in Clifton after pupils transformed a garden there.

St Peter's teacher Julie Bainbridge said the award had been a "fantastic" boost for pupils.

"The really good thing is that it has inspired other pupils to be more active in the community," she said.

To send your nominations for our awards, fill in the entry form on this page, remembering to include the category for which you are entering, and giving reasons on no more than two sides of A4. You will need to hurry - the deadline for all entries is July 15.

Our judges will select three finalists in each category, and winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on October 20.

Updated: 15:16 Thursday, July 07, 2005