School’s chosen Charity triggers 54 letters 20.11.2019

Every year the children at Twyford School nominate and vote for two charities to support by holding events throughout the year. Our chosen charities are ‘Surfers Against Sewage’ and ‘Crisis’.

‘Surfers Against Sewage’ started in 1990 as a result of the local surfing community in Cornwall catching more rubbish than waves with their boards. They are passionate about keeping the oceans free of plastic to not only support the water sport enthusiasts but to protect our coastlines and marine wildlife. Surfers Against Sewage are a small charity that travels all over the country educating schools and communities about how to be proactive in cleaning up the coastlines. They also visit businesses to share best practice ideas on how to minimise plastic usage by substituting with safer, greener alternatives. Surfers Against Sewage arranges weekly beach cleans and encourage the whole community to be involved. Many Twyford children enjoy sailing and spending time in the water so supporting this charity is particularly relevant in helping them understand their individual responsibilities to tackle this problem. Miss Ringelberg and Miss Higham have started an Eco Warriors initiative whose aim is to make Twyford a greener place by adopting some of Surfers Against Sewage ideals.

In conjunction with Twyford’s Eco Warriors initiative, Year 6 have been working on a pollution project:

CAN ORDINARY PEOPLE SAVE THE SEAS FROM PLASTIC POLLUTION?

This led to much debate and raised questions about the roles that different people in society could play in helping to reduce the burden of plastic waste in our seas. We talked about the responsibilities of politicians, industry, celebrities, media, ordinary people etc, with the children formed varying strong opinions about whose job it was to clean up the oceans and prevent the problem from escalating.  Ben felt quite strongly that, although ordinary people can play their part, the main responsibility lies with people in power. After doing a lot of research, we decided to write a letter to Michael Gove, as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, expressing our opinions and concerns on this issue. In June, we sent 54 letters to him and are still awaiting a response.

One letter in particular stood out as being noteworthy and passionate in content. Mr Mathar asked Ben to read the letter out with the support of his Year 6 classmates. Click here to read Ben’s letter and here to watch the video.