The annual awards, organised by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust with the Rotary Club of Lindum, Lincoln, recognise young people under the age of 13 who have demonstrated extraordinary initiative and commitment to improving their environment, living more sustainably or helping wildlife. After initial consideration, six entries were shortlisted and visited by the panel of judges, then invited to share displays and presentations at Whisby Nature Park, Lincoln, on 22 May.

The standard was very high, with the finalists showing impressive dedication and results across a diverse range of projects, all on different scales and at varying stages. This made for an extremely challenging task for the judges, who were deliberating right up until moments before the winner was announced, but Kirkby la Thorpe stood out for the input and enthusiasm of the students involved, as well as the breadth of their achievement, encompassing measures for wildlife and their own learning and wellbeing alongside a successful planting and growing programme.

“It’s very child-led, very much their ideas,” explained judge Jan Kemp. “When we visited the children were so excited to show us around and tell us exactly what they were doing. Their enthusiasm and knowledge of their own project really shone through.”

Kirkby La Thorpe is a small village primary with around 100 pupils that has been steadily building its environmental ambitions, adding more features to benefit both nature and the school community year on year. The eco committee meets weekly to share suggestions but there is the opportunity for every student to get stuck in, whether it’s planting, watering or harvesting vegetables, making birdhouses, maintaining the bug hotels or simply using time in the wilder areas to recharge.  

Several aspects of the project have been absorbed into daily school life, so the children now enjoy free food and veg, freshly pulled from the beds, washed and chopped for them to help themselves to at breaktime. Any leftovers from lunch are automatically put into the compost bins that have been created around the grounds so the cycle can continue.

“They don’t have the largest area but they’ve really made the most of it,” said Liz Lucas, also on the judging panel. “When they’re given a suggestion to improve or progress what they’re doing, they don’t just follow it but go above and beyond. It was identified previously that they could be using and reusing water more efficiently – now they have a great water harvesting system in place.”

Brodie Trollope, 9, is on the eco committee. “The IBCs [intermediate bulk containers] were donated to us and they make it much easier,” he said. “We can collect rainwater in them and we don’t have to walk so far carrying it to water everything.”

The judges also applauded the fact that staff had gone on a willow-weaving course, learning skills to then pass on to the students.

Sue Feary, who works in administration at the school and volunteers her time to run the eco committee, was delighted to see the children win. “I just love their enthusiasm,” she said. “They get so much from being outside. None of us are experts but they have so many ideas.”

It often falls to school caretaker Jon Annall to work out how to turn those desires into something practical. He, too, takes on the extra work on a voluntary basis. “It’s nice to get them learning about the whole chain of life, from planting right through to compost,” he explained. His latest mission has arrived in the form of a broken rowing boat that the children want to be able to plant and tend as a reedbed.  

“It’s amazing to see how environmental awareness in schools and among young people is evolving,” said judge Chris Milnes. “When these awards began, children were telling us about putting in recycling bins for the waste paper in their classrooms. Now that’s taken for granted, and many places have an established wildlife garden and are moving on to the next stage, creating a sustainable food cycle, for example, and connecting nature with wellbeing and mental health. Having said that, we want to showcase effort and innovation at every stage, and it’s the diversity this year that made picking a winner such a difficult decision.” 

Matthew Ellerby was the only individual to make the shortlist, commended for his imagination and motivation in setting out independently to transform the pond area at his school, which had been become so dangerously overgrown and unkempt it was out of bounds. Upcycling unwanted items himself, he has created a bug hotel from a broken doll’s house, planters from old tyres, a net rack from a pallet and much more, transforming the space into somewhere attractive and serene that pupils can now use.

At the other end of the scale, Washingborough Academy wowed everyone with its whole school approach to food sustainability, encompassing a 300 square metre organic kitchen garden, 72 metre polytunnel and orchard, a focus on Lincolnshire heritage varieties, joint planning between those growing and cooking food on site, and entrepreneurship in producing and selling seeds, preserves and more.

The full list of 2024 runners-up is: Washingborough Academy, Humber Wild, Matthew Ellerby of Butterwick Pinchbeck's Endowed Church of England Primary, Birchwood Junior School and St Christopher's Primary in Lincoln. While they were at Whisby, the finalists enjoyed activities including pond-dipping and making clay creatures, led by our education team.

The Lincolnshire Young Environmentalist Awards are organised by the Rotary Club of Lindum, Lincoln, and the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, and sponsored by FCC Environment.