Basingstoke ObserverON Friday 17 June Cranbourne secondary school held a conference for primary children entitled Going Green.
The school hosted 120 children between the ages of 4 and 11, who are school council representatives from Cranbourne’s family of primary schools. The 2022 Cranbourne Cluster Conference was the first of its kind in two years and there was a celebratory mood as children got to grips with planning for a green future.
The conference was opened by Ugbana Oyet, The Serjeant at Arms for the House of Commons, and a local Basingstoker, who spoke of his ambition for The Palace of Westminster to be carbon neutral by 2050.
The day’s workshops focussed young minds on endangered species, carbon reduction and supporting local ecosystems.
Cranbourne students’ Bhaswati and Luize said: “The Cluster Conference was very exciting for both Cranbourne and Primary students. The activities were really engaging, and I think the students involved were certainly inspired to go green! The children especially liked making Bee Bombs, I made one to take home myself. The visit from a member of staff from parliament was enlightening and his story empowered me to ‘go carbon free’ too. ‘It was a great opportunity to get a good insight on what we can do to reduce our personal and collective carbon footprint.”
The conference was organised by Miss Sam Miller, Head of Gilbert White house, who commented: “It was fantastic to see how engaged the students were in all the different activities throughout the day and learn how we can all contribute to a greener future for our planet. There was an electric atmosphere in the Hall at the end of the day and lots of smiling faces as they departed with their Bug Hotels.”
All participating schools departed with a birch seedling donated from Wote Street People to plant in their school grounds for future generations.
