Widcombe Junior School Year 5 Pupils: "Clean Up Our Air!"

23 March 2018

Year 5 pupils at Widcombe Junior School have given MP Wera Hobhouse suggestions about how traffic and pollution can be tackled in Bath.

Thursday marked the beginning of an environmental project that the kids will be doing through the summer term, aiming to have a real-world impact on the city.

Wera opened their assembly:

“I need help! We have a problem in Bath. The air that we breathe has tiny particles in it, and some of them are bad for you. Some of them are created by our cars and their engines. This means the air is unhealthy for us to breathe. We need to make the air clean...how can we do this?”

“We could make more buses and bus stops,” said one student, “or use solar panels and electric cars,” said another.

“This isn’t just work for our topic books,” said headteacher Claire Taylor, “this is work that you are going to bring alive!”

The children then split up into groups to discuss exactly how they will get their environmentally friendly message out to the wider Bath community. Groups came back with ideas ranging from fundraising, blogging, and even holding a march through the city.

Following the event Wera said:

“It’s fantastic that kids at such an early age are engaging in large problems like this, and are visibly excited about contributing to their community. Hopefully this project will give them the interest and the tools to be actively engaged citizens in Bath. Maybe they’ll solve our transport problems as well!”

Claire Taylor said:

“At Widcombe Junior School, we actively seek to provide opportunities that have a purposeful hook. If we can link our enquiry based approach to topic learning with an engaging link to our community then that is something which excites us! We want our pupils to take responsibility for their learning and feel they can contribute to making a positive change.”

Wera continued:

“I look forward to seeing the kids over the summer term to see what they’ve come up with, and will help them to implement their ideas in any way I can. This is a part of the community-led solutions in our city that I encouraged in The Bath Briefing last month."