By Community Correspondent Sarah Lutton. Wallace Fields Junior School can now wave a second green flag awarded to confirm its Eco-School status. This Ewell school is one of a select band of only eight throughout Surrey to receive this second prestigious international environmental ‘Green Flag’ Award.

The Award is for a school-wide effort to ‘think green’ and for Wallace Fields this has meant a whole raft of initiatives. The past few years have seen the development of wildlife and vegetable gardens and an orchard, the planting of 25 metres of hedgerow and the installation of waterbutts. Webcams have enabled the children to watch via their computers whole families of Blue Tits hatching and developing in the bird boxes set up in the garden areas. Other initiatives include recycling bins installed around the school for a wide range of materials from telephone directories to print cartridges and constant encouragement of children to walk or cycle to school. Pupils have also participated in web conferences with respected academics in the field of energy conservation and the school has also adopted a chimpanzee called Elvis. Following the Green Flag inspectors’ visit, the school was told of the pleasure that the visit had been and how impressed they were with the eco-awareness of the children. Science co-ordinator, Emma Kirk, said, “When we won our first Green Flag Award in May 2007 we knew that we had to continue to strive to maintain our Eco-School status. We are delighted to receive this second Green Flag because it re-affirms our commitment to continuously improve our environmental perofrmance. Not just our ‘Eco Warriors’ but all the children and staff in the school thoroughly deserve this because it is a real team effort.”