TWO Dorset Schools have been awarded with cash prizes for their efforts in a national competition.

Students of Prince of Wales School and Damers First School, both in Dorchester, are celebrating after being named as Regional Winners for their entry to the Better Energy School Awards 2020.

Prince of Wales School was awarded £500 for their entry in the ‘totally creative’ category of the awards. Damers First School was awarded £500 for being named the best entry in the ‘totally active’ category, along with an extra £100 for being highly commended in the totally creative category.

Prince of Wales School’s projects ‘Celebrating 50 years of Earth Day’ and ‘North Pole Research Facility’ were jointly named as the best entries received in the totally creative category.

The Earth Day entry consisted of a video presentation of the eco projects the children had been doing from home. Whilst the second projected consisted of transforming the school into a research facility at the North Pole to provide children with an immersive learning experience.

Damers First School produced a video to showcase the work the children have done to encourage the people of Dorchester to take greater care of the environment. This work included the introduction of ‘boomerang bags’, handmade fabric bags that local shopkeepers can loan to customers, who bring them back on their next visit

The Better Energy School Awards is a nationwide competition for five to 11-year-olds, run by the Young People’s Trust for the Environment (YPTE) in partnership with Total. Despite most children not being in school over lockdown, over 28,750 children submitted entries for the 2020 awards.

Peter Littlewood, director at YPTE said, “Given the strange circumstances that schools face at the moment, we have been delighted with the number of entries we have received again from schools across England, Scotland and Wales this year. Young people are really getting to grips with a wide range of environmental issues and their ideas and actions have been really heartwarming to see.”

The Better Energy School Awards competition will run again in 2020-21. For details on how to enter visit www.betterenergyschoolawards.org.uk.