Sunderland School Launches Eco Committee Following Esh Donation

Budding eco enthusiasts from a Sunderland primary school have launched a new eco committee club following an equipment boost from Esh Construction.

Northern Saints C of E (VA) Primary School in the North Hylton area of Sunderland received a greenhouse, weatherproof garden storage boxes and wooden cold frames, as well as gardening essentials including gloves, trowels, forks, kneeling pads and watering cans.

The new eco committee will work together to create a welcoming outdoor gardening space and aim to motivate all year groups to achieve environmental targets for the school.

The youngsters will learn how to grow fresh produce in the new greenhouse and cold frames for use in the school kitchen. While multi-coloured fence paint and a raft of children’s seat cushions will be used to decorate the garden zone which will be a peaceful area, as well as an educational zone.

Speaking about the donation, teacher Elishia Cook, the school’s environmental education lead, said: “The donations have well and truly sparked curiosity and enthusiasm for gardening and outdoor spaces amongst our youngsters. The children and wider school can’t wait to get the gardening tools and additions put to good use.

“The paints will help us attract wildlife and pollinating animals to help with the growing of wild flowers and edible plants. This is a huge area of supporting the environment which takes a main role in the eco-committee’s aims this year. The school and I are very grateful for the donations and hope to work closely with Esh in the future.”

A student from the eco-committee, added: “I’ve loved painting. It’s also made me want to do it at home. I have recently planted some vegetables at home which I learnt how to do when using the tools in school.”

Esh Construction pledged to donate the items as part of its work with Karbon Homes on the College Grange housing development, less than one mile away from the school.

Esh’s operations director, Mark Binns, said: “It is great to see the benefit this equipment is already providing to the school, from getting young people outdoors and involved in eco activities, to looking ahead at reducing the school’s environmental footprint in the long run. This donation is yet another great example of how we continue support and enrich our local communities.”

Steve Riding, development contracts manager at Karbon Homes, said: “Supporting the communities in which we’re developing is one of Karbon’s key priorities and we’re proud to work with contractors, like Esh Construction, who support us in achieving this.  

“The eco committee will teach pupils about the importance of caring for our environment and we hope this donation will help as many of them as possible to get involved, providing more nature in the grounds which the children can watch grow and thrive.”

College Grange is a development of 105 new affordable homes on the site of the former Sunderland College buildings in North Hylton. Esh is on site constructing the new homes on behalf of Karbon and in partnership with Elliott Associates, IDPartnership and Portland Consulting Engineers.