Outwood Family Primary Children Visit South Kirkby Recycling Centre

Children from primary academies across the Outwood Family have been learning about recycling on an exciting trip to South Kirkby Household Waste Recycling Centre.

The children on the trip, who came from all nine primary academies and the one junior academy within the Outwood Family, are all members of their School Parliament. Many of the children were members of the Energy Saving Department at their academy.

The purpose of the visit, which was arranged by ISS, catering provider to the Outwood Family, was for the children to learn more about sustainability and the importance of recycling. 

The visit built on the recent Outwood Sustainability Summit held earlier this year where members of the Outwood Family came together to discuss how to make their academies more sustainable and make positive changes to protect the environment.

Lee Wilson, Chief Executive (Primary) at the Outwood Family, said:

“At Outwood we are keen for the children who attend are primary academies to become not only good students, but also good citizens.

“Helping the children to learn more about how they can do their bit to help the environment is very important to us and experiences like this are key to achieving this.”

During the morning at the South Kirkby Recycling Centre, the children were set challenges and quizzed on how to sort rubbish into different categories, which bin is for which rubbish, and what happens to the rubbish when it leaves the Centre.

A highlight of the morning was when the children were given the chance to be part of the production line on a mock conveyor belt to learn how to sort rubbish as it travelled down the belt. 

Prior to the visit, the children had been set the challenge to bring with them a ‘zero waste lunch.’ The children excelled in this task, using tubs and wax wrappings instead of cling film and other products to ensure they had an environmentally friendly lunch. 

The workshop leader at the Centre expressed her delight with the children by stating that it was the least waste left by a school trip that she had seen.

Lee added:

“It was a very proud moment for me to see 10 Outwood academies from across four local authorities coming together to explore something that is so fundamentally important for the future!”

In the afternoon, the children focused on the motto ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ and how they can reduce food waste at home. To this end, the Centre presented each child with a free spaghetti measurer and a rice scoop, as well as a water bottle.

The day ended with the children learning about the importance of worms, and how they help with composting. To help with this, each child made their own wormery using soil and sand which they were then able to take home.