RE-USEABLE water bottles have been issued to all students at Weydon School as part of a student-led campaign to reduce the use of single-use plastics, inspired by Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II.

Moved to take action by shocking images showing how plastics affect sea creatures, as featured in the BBC1 nature documentary, a group of Weydon students decided that they wanted to take the lead on social responsibility within the secondary school and, supported by staff and governors, launched a major initiative.

Re-useable water bottles have since been issued to all students, and to support this initiative more water fountains and bottle fillers have been installed across the school campus.

In addition, the students are also working with school caterers, Innovate, to reduce plastic packaging by introducing 100 per cent recyclable packaging including coffee cups and increasing the mix of compostable packaging, paper straws and birch wood cutlery.

Other projects supported by the school involve the recycling of old IT equipment for use by a charity that supports young people, recycling food waste in the school restaurant, and the installation of chewing gum collection points so that this can be recycled into items such as Wellington boots.

Weydon School has other exciting projects that they will be launching throughout the year to ensure that all members of the school community appreciate the importance of looking after our fragile environment.

Sharon Thornton, Weydon science teacher, said: “I am so proud of what the students have achieved so far. It’s one thing to come up with this idea but to actually have it implemented shows a great strength within their team. We are very excited about being part of such a great initiative and I look forward to continuing to work with the students in the next project.”

• Weydon School students studying Religious Studies also recently welcomed a speaker from Humanists UK to present to them.

Jennie Johnson spoke to the year 11 students, explaining what humanism is and what the humanist perspective is on tensions between religious and non-religious beliefs in the UK, specifically in the context of faith schools, marriage and medical ethics.

Nick Curry, Weydon’s head of religious studies, said: “It was a very interesting talk and gave the students a different perspective to consider.

“I am grateful to Jennie for coming in and meeting our year 11 students and I’m sure she has given them a great deal to think about.”