Green Day for Green Dragon's School

The Mayor of Hounslow is impressed.

The product of weeks of hard work and preparation by the children of Green Dragon Primary School, Green Day took place on Thursday 26th March from 10am.

The event took the form of an exhibition which included a number of highly interactive, creative and informative exhibits with subjects including:

• Recycled clothing – clothing designed and made by pupils using only recycled materials
• Wildlife – information on various insects and animals
• Reducing carbon footprints – ideas on how people can reduce their environmental impact
• Recycling – what can be recycled and why we should do it
• Conserving water – how we can use less water
• Environmentally friendly transport – a ‘river bus’ concept was thought up by the children who then also designed and made a number of model boats

Visitors to the event, which included local business people, local residents, parents, Kevin O’Connor and the Mayor, were invited to model the recycled clothing, play games such as ‘Rivers and Ladders’ and enter competitions including ‘Your Top Water-saving Tip’.

According to the headmaster of the school, Jon Golightly, “Green Day was a great success. Preparing for the exhibition and the day itself has really raised Green Issues as a major focus for the school community and I have no doubt will impact on the way the children view the world and the how they live in the future.” The experience has also inspired them to develop as a more ’sustainable school.

The Mayor of Hounslow, Councillor Dr Genevieve Hibbs, commented: "I think the pupils and teachers of Green Dragon Primary School have done fantastically well in organising this event and after talking to the children, I can tell they have a very good understanding of the issues they have highlighted."

The Mayor continued, "If there is one thing that I would like to see more Hounslow residents doing, it would be to think more frequently about environmental issues and I think the children have done well in helping raise awareness of these issues, such as recycling, wastage and carbon footprints"

Ian Dobie, managing director of St George West London commented: "St George is delighted to have been involved with this project from the outset and is enormously proud of what the pupils of Green Dragon Primary School have achieved. The exhibition pieces that were produced by each year group were inventive, informative and interactive and I have no doubt that they were appreciated by everyone that attended the event."

Brentford FC captain Kevin O'Connor, who attended the event, commented: "I have been really impressed by the amount of information that has been put together for this exhibition and have even been taught a few things by the kids that I didn't know before. My top tip to help the environment would be to try not to use your car unless you have to. Hounslow is really lucky because it has a great river and I would love to see more people using it for transport as well as leisure activities."

“I liked the part when we had to put things in to recycle. I also liked that we had to write an idea to stop wasting water and there was a prize for the best idea. I thought Green Day was great“ (Kofi aged 8) “I liked Green Day because it told us about what we are doing to the planet.” (Hassan aged 7) “Personally I think Green Day was a great success because a lot of people came and were very obviously interested in what they saw. Hopefully as a result many of the visitors will think about what they saw and heard and will change the everyday living so that they are helping the planet.” (Alisha – Chair of School Council aged 11)

April 10, 2009