‘GUARDIANS of the environment’, are what pupils, staff and parents from St Petroc’s School in Bude have been heralded as, following their recent almighty beach clean.

St Petroc’s School has begun its annual assault on helping the local community, and its latest initiative is to continue monitoring and helping keep the area’s beaches clean. On Wednesday, October 18, the school contributed to Surfers Against Sewage’s autumn beach clean, filling bags of rubbish with debris and litter — some of which is hard to be seen within the sand.

‘Fast Yn Mesk Tonnow’ is the motto of St Petroc’s School, and how fitting that this translates as, ‘firm amongst the waves’.

They have been working closely with Surfers Against Sewage to take part in the autumn beach clean, but the school goes further than this and has targets for some of the smaller and less frequented beaches in the area.

Recently at Crooklets beach, they spent two hours educating the children and some parents, including the headmaster, Ben Hilton, about the magnitude of the pollution of the ocean. In that time, the children from Reception to Year 6 learned how they can contribute to helping towards this global issue.

They carried out scientific experiments in partnership with the Cleaner Seas Project, demonstrating the amount of nurdles present on the beach, hiding within what appeared to be ‘clean’ sand.

The school has been heavily involved with the Cleaner Seas Project over the past few years and two of its children narrated the recent project film, available online to view. Headmaster, Ben Hilton, said: “As a school that uses the beach and the ocean for surfing lessons every week, it is imperative our children know how to look after the environment.”

In the two-hour period, the school collected an impressive ten bags of plastic, rope and other dangerous debris that sweeps in on the tide every day. The children spoke about watching animals feeding their young pieces of plastic, thinking it was food, and it shocked them.

A Reception child at the school said: “I want to be able to see the turtles and whales in the ocean one day and not poorly because of all the rubbish in their tummies, especially when I swim with dolphins!”

Dave Miller from the Environment Agency said: “We are absolutely delighted to see the actions of the confident young people of St Petroc’s School. They are truly guardians of the environment. We hope they inspire others to make changes in their lives to help protect our wonderful marine environment.”

In addition to St Petroc’s School there were a number of parents who assisted the additional agencies, including Cornwall Council team Biffa, the Environment Agency and the Cleaner Seas Project in making a difference.

Deputy head, Maggie Wood, added: “It was staggering to see how much non-biodegradable rubbish is washing up on our shores, when you look closely. Thank you to the other agencies that have helped St Petroc’s School today — I hope everyone gets involved.”

Avril Sainsbury, from the Bude Cleaner Seas Project, added: “It was inspiring and encouraging to see the high level of enthusiasm and knowledge shown by the St Petroc’s students, who acknowledge and understand the need for us all to look after our beaches and oceans.

“Educating children about the issues of ocean plastic is key to empowering our community to refuse single use plastics, reduce plastic use and recycle wherever possible.”