STUDENTS at a Sholing high school won a national prize for sharing ideas on how to reduce their carbon footprint.

Oasis Academy Sholing was one of 15 schools in an initiative to encourage plant-based eating.

The Plant+ by Finer Diner programme was being piloted by the WWF and Sodexo, who say that food significantly contributes to climate change and is responsible for 60 per cent of global biodiversity loss.

The initiative involved the environmental ambassadors developing ideas to share with students and staff about changes they could make to be more environmentally-friendly.

Each school was competing for a Plant+ Trophy and a £1000 Eco Prize to be spent on an initiative within their school to promote plant-based diets, and to help students learn about climate change. 

The academy won the Eco Prize and funding, with Eton College finishing second. 

It was decided by the percentage of students that made a new pledge on the school's pledge tree, the number of plant-based meals sold, and evidence on how the students’ knowledge of sustainable eating had increased over time.

A panel from the WWF judged the schools and awarded the prizes.

They were awarded an A frame with the 350 pledges that the school had collected and a plaque congratulating the ambassadors and the school. 

In the coming weeks, the school’s environmental ambassadors will be coming up with ideas on which to spend the Eco Prize money. 

The schools in the initiative sold more than 12,063 plant-based meals in total and there were more than 1,120 student pledges to try a more plant-based diet.

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