A Pinner secondary school has been awarded a prestigious prize from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
Students at Pinner High School were delighted to be one of five schools in London chosen by the Mayor as winners of his Climate Kick-Start Prize, which will help to pioneer environmental projects to engage young Londoners in climate action with a grant of £10,000.
Pinner High School’s prize came about because Sixth Form geography students, led by Head of Geography Mr Smith, wanted to create an eco bike shelter to help improve traffic flow around the school in Beaulieu Drive, and their work was recognised by the Mayor of London’s team.
Mr Smith explained: “If we can get more students on bikes and out of their cars it improves the air quality around the school and reduces congestion which makes the journey to school safer. We are delighted to have been awarded the Climate Kick-Start Prize to help us with this.”
A Level Geography student Alex Stanisci-Brown said: “We all know what we need to do to address climate change so rather than making pledges for the next 20 years I am delighted to be making real changes about what happens in my school right now. I’d like to thank Mr Smith for providing this opportunity, and the Mayor of London for trusting young people to make good decisions.”
Headteacher Chris Woolf commented: “It was a real privilege to have a Pinner High School student-led project featured at the Climate Kick-Start Prizegiving. The Sixth Form students are our Trailblazers, and they continue to live up to the name. I am very proud of them, and all our students.”
The winners were announced on November 5 at a star-studded ceremony at the Barbican, hosted by Mayor Sadiq Khan and TV presenter, Paralympian and climate activist, Ade Adepitan MBE.
Prizes at the event were presented by celebrity climate ambassadors, including BBC Radio 1’s Vick Hope, Olympic BMX champion Beth Schriever, BAFTA winning TV presenter Mehreen Baig and actor David Oakes.
Mayor Sadiq Khan addressed students at the event about their role in tackling some of our planet’s biggest threats – climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, air pollution and single-use plastics, as well as what governments and businesses need to do to help accelerate climate action.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “In London, we’re taking bold action to tackle the twin dangers of air pollution and the climate crisis. As part of this, I’m pleased to announce the Climate Kick-Start prize winners, who will be able to use the prize money to not only deliver a range of innovative projects to take vital environmental action in their schools but to inspire other young Londoners to get involved in climate action.
“Climate Kick Start is about engaging young people to help us make London one of the greenest and cleanest global cities. I was incredibly impressed by all submissions and I look forward to seeing the winning ideas become a reality.”
PHS pupils were delighted to be recognised by London’s Mayor and even made national news, featuring on ITV News and The Evening Standard.
For more information on the Pinner High School students project, visit https://youtu.be/YEXVzN79ft8
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