CHILDREN at a Dorchester school have been learning how they can become more eco-friendly.

St Mary’s Catholic First School pupils were paid a visit from Dorset County Council’s waste education and projects officer who got the children thinking about recycling, reusing and reducing waste.

The children, aged between six and nine years old, took part in an activity session organised by the council’s officer Kirsten Juniper, where they delved into rubbish during a waste audit.

All the children at the school in Lucetta Lane were asked to bag up their rubbish at the end of the previous day so it could be examined at the session.

Each bag was labelled to indicate which class the bag belonged to so that Miss Juniper was able to assess how much rubbish put into the bins could have been recycled or reused.

Year two teacher Jyotsna Chaffey said Miss Juniper had done the same exercise last year and brought the results from last time to show the children.

She added that Miss Juniper demonstrated which class had performed best in a pie chart, which made the exercise feel like a competition.

She said this made the children more enthusiastic about taking part the second time around.

Mrs Chaffey said: “It felt almost like a competition for the children because she brought the results from last year.

“That made it fun and it’s nice because the children got quite enthusiastic about it.”

She added: “It’s important that the children can learn to be more eco-friendly.

“It’s all about the three R’s – recycle, reuse or reduce.”

Waste education and projects officer Miss Juniper said teaching these children would help to educate the entire community.

She said: “I feel that if you are talking to pupils and getting them thinking about reducing, reusing and recycling their waste, I think they also take the message home.

“They start talking to their parents, their siblings, their neighbours and as a result they’re educating the community.

“Also, they’re the next generation so it’s important to educate them about it.”

She added: “The children have been really enthusiastic and they often know more than I think they know – they have definitely got a moral feeling that it’s the right thing to do.

“It’s about really reinforcing the message.”

• St Mary’s First School in Lucetta Lane, Dorchester, has around 140 pupils aged four to nine.

Its school motto is ‘Per Fidem’, meaning Through Faith.

Their headteacher is Jackie Clayton.

Its Ofsted rating is ‘good’.