Green is this season’s colour for Hackney pupils

Hackney

school pupils took to the catwalk this week at an event to show how being green

can be both fun, fashionable and hassle-free.

 

Students

from Stoke Newington High School, Horizon School and Hackney Free and Parochial

Secondary School showed off designs they had made entirely out of recycled

material, thanks to the Hackney Re-Made

project organised by the fashion recycling charity TRAID, The Learning Trust

and London Borough of Hackney.

 

The

fashion show was staged at Stoke Newington’s newly refurbished Town Hall and formed

part of the second annual Green Heroes

awards, which recognises the work of pupils, their families, teachers and

school staff to green up Hackney’s schools.

 

There

were fourteen overall ‘Green Hero’ winners plus two eco-teams and 24 specially

commended individuals. Their green acts ranged from switching off lights in

classrooms, producing vegetables to be used in the school kitchen, tending

school gardens and building a wind turbine from scratch.

 

Winners

included teacher Ayesha Usmani from Clapton Girls’ Technology College, a team

of ‘eco-warriors’ from Jubilee Primary School and gardener Ben Hooke from

Parkwood Primary School.

 

The

winner of primary pupil Green Hero award, eight-year-old Queensbridge pupil Imogen

Hathaway, was praised for never missing a day of watering the school beds and

hanging baskets, feeding the tadpoles and tending to the pond.

She

said: “I was very excited to win this award. I really enjoy working outside and

being green and I have learnt lots of things about the garden. My favourite

thing was growing potatoes and tomatoes which we used in our salad bowls.”

 

Guests

at the awards ceremony also heard from Amy Fleuriot, Hackney resident and

founder of Cyclodelic, a fashion range for female cyclists. She said:

"Everyone can improve their lifestyle by becoming greener and reap the

rewards. Whether it's swapping some of your regular journeys by bus or car to a

bicycle and arriving at work feeling more refreshed and seeing your personal

fitness level soar or simply making sure any unnecessary lights are turned off.”

 

“Being

green is easy fun and for most of us it’s about all the little changes that can

fit easily into your existing lifestyle."

 

Rob

Sambrooks, Sustainable Schools Officer at The Learning Trust, said:

“I’m

delighted to be able to shine a light on the Green Heroes of Hackney Schools.

These are the people who are actively leading the way to a greener, more

sustainable future by reducing their school’s carbon footprint and cutting down

on waste. Our green heroes show that no matter what you’re role in school, you

can make a real difference.”

 

Lyla

Patel, Head of Education at TRAID, said: “In the run up to the awards, we’ve

been working with schools in Hackney to shrink their fashion footprint by

up-cycling unwanted textiles into beautiful one-off pieces.  Young people

are the best and most enthusiastic advocates of living more sustainably and

it’s fantastic to see their ethically fashioned creations on the catwalk.”