School Council | Annfield Plain Infant School

What is ECO Schools?

Eco Schools is a simple seven-step framework which empowers young people to make a difference in their school, local community and beyond.

As we step into a new academic year, our school has embarked on an exciting journey towards achieving the prestigious ECO Schools Award. This initiative not only highlights our commitment to environmental sustainability but also sets a powerful example for our students and the wider community.

Meet our ECO Team!

Mrs Martin is leading our school into the achievement of the Eco Schools Award. Our School Representatives are;

Reception Class

Thomas & Sonny

Year One

Ella-May & Noah

Year Two

Theo, Myles, Evelyn & Callum

Meet Eddie The Eco bear!

Eddie is our eco mascot and likes to help us out at assemblies and events.

Litter Pick 2026

Our children had great fun taking part in the Great Big School Clean again this year. We love the community we live in and want to do all we can to help make it a clean and safe environment. Each class went out on a different day and we collected around 30 bags of litter! Big thank you to Stanley Town Council for the loan of the litter picking equipment and to all the wonderful volunteers who helped.

We have also purchased some litter pickers of our own and are hoping to appoint litter monitors to keep our school grounds tidy.

New Homes for Birds

As part of our biodiversity topic we have bought and decorated 2 new bird homes for the KS1 garden. We hope they like them! Our next step is to have some in the early years garden too. We have also been making sure that our feathered friends have enough food when they visit. We are regularly topping up our bird table and new feeders with tasty snacks.

Living Streets - Walk to School Scheme 2026

Walk to school is in full swing again this year. The children love logging their journeys and earning their badges. We have seen a big increase in active travel this year, especially after installing our new bike and scooter racks.

In October, we took part in an interactive online assembly to launch Walk to School. We found out why it is important to travel more actively and the benefits it has for the environment. We also looked at all the different ways that children around the world travelled to school. We were amazed to find out that some children had to zip wire!

Walk To School Badge Competition 2026

In February, the whole school took part in the Living Streets badge competition. The winner would have their badge design made into an actual badge to be given out during next years walk to school. We chose 3 finalists and submitted them into the competition.

Imagine our surprise when one of our finalists was chosen as a winner! They were only 1 of 11 winneres chosen from over 200,000 entries!

In May, Don from Living Streets came in to deliver an assembly to celebrate all our achievements this year. We also had a big surprise for our competition winner. She received a certificate, book voucher and trophy. Helen from Durham County Council also came and awarded the winner with a bug house!

Just when we thought we'd had enough fun, Strider turned up and met us all on the gate. We had a fantastic afternoon!

RHS School Gardening Awards

The RHS school gardening award is a free programme to encourage schools to integrate gardening into their curriculum. Through this programme we help children to develop skills, improve wellbeing and connect with nature.

In Novemeber we were thrilled to be awarded our Level 3 award.

Plastic Free Schools Award

This year we have been completing the Plastic Free School Award. We looked at plastic litter pollution in our school grounds and around the community. We kept a note of what items we found more of and we noticed that there was a lot of crisp packets. Eco Team has contacted our local Councillor and MP and invited them into our school to meet us, have a look around the school and discuss what we can do to tackle litter. We have already completed objectives 1,2 and 3.

Our Eco Code

With the help of all the children at Annfield Plain Infant School, our eco team have created our eco code. This outlines what we can do to help look after our environment.

Always water the plants

Never waste electricity

Nice flowers for bees and butterflies

Feed the birds

Insects need homes too

Everyone can make a difference

Leave the car at home sometimes

Don't drop litter

Put food waste in the compost bin

Love where you live

Always recycle

Imagine a brighter future