Wirral school awarded £2,500 Bupa Foundation Green Community Grant   

Wirral-based school, St John Plessington Catholic College, has been awarded £2,500 from the Bupa Foundation Green Community Grant.  

Over the last year, St John Plessington’s environmental campaigning has gone from strength to strength. Most recently, the school received two prestigious accolades, retaining its Eco-Schools Green Flag accreditation, and gaining a distinction.   

The school facilitates several extracurricular activities, such as Eco-Club and the SJP Urban Farm Club, giving students the opportunity to learn more about sustainability and horticulture.   

The £2,500 grant is part of a larger scheme through eco-friendly company Groundworks and charity the Bupa Foundation, who have partnered to award over £500,000 to green projects at over 240 schools, not-for-profits and charities.   

The scheme, part of the Bupa Healthy Cities campaign, supports practical projects to help the health of people and the planet through grants of up to £2,500.  

The programme was developed to meet Groundwork’s strategic priority of supporting those who need to connect with nature most and to meet Bupa’s global ambition of supporting one million people to improve their health each year by 2025 through restoring and regenerating nature.  

As part of the application, St John Plessington outlined its plans to develop the school’s polytunnel and create an onsite forest school area to enhance the curriculum and improve holistic development.   

The school is keen to use the funds to expand its current growing area, enabling the newly developed polytunnel to support the growth of more plants and produce.   

In addition, the funding will enable St John Plessington to support students to further develop their skills and incorporate forest skills into its current extracurricular offering.   

The school also has ambitions to plant high-yield fruit trees to supply fresh fruit and vegetables to the canteen and to include in food parcels for families.  

Mr Peadar McLoughlin, headteacher at St John Plessington Catholic College, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded £2,500 from the Bupa Foundation Green Community Grant.”  

Outdoor education and horticulture are proven to support mental health and wellbeing, as well as helping the development of new skills.   

Mr McLoughlin added: “Outdoor education has several benefits for young people and offers them an opportunity to reconnect with nature and gain new skills. Access to nature is proven to boost mental health and wellbeing – something we take very seriously at St John Plessington.  

“The funds will go a long way in helping us improve our polytunnel and creating a forest school area. It will also enable us to have Groundworks back onsite to work with our pupils during extracurricular activities.”  

The school is committed to fostering a greener and healthier environment for students to learn and flourish.  

St John Plessington has previously worked with the Eco Club, Junior Leadership Team, and Urban Farm Club on several projects, all focussing on becoming greener.