A WEE COUNTY secondary school has been recognised for its pupils' efforts in looking after the environment.

Lornshill Academy recently earned its Green Flag Award as part of the Keep Scotland Beautiful programme which rewards schools who make an effort to become an eco-friendly organisation.

Led by a group of nine S1pupils, the school adopted a range of initiatives, all of which were thought of and introduced by the students themselves.

Gemma O'Donnell, a teacher at the school, as well as the eco-school co-ordinator, was delighted to see the pupils' efforts being recognised.

She told the Advertiser: "We have an environment class with nine pupils who wanted to make changes in the school to make it eco-friendly.

"The first years come up with the changes then run them past the teachers, although some of them were a bit adventurous at first, such as installing solar panels.

"They have been making posters, ran a quiz about plastic waste and introduced food waste bins throughout the school, including the pupil-run café. The café now also has bio-degradable cups."

While the group targeted pupil-heavy areas, they also "had a go" at staff for their plastic use and as a result, the school canteen has moved away from plastic cutlery and plates, and now use regular versions.

Staff at the school are also charged 10p extra for hot drinks if they don't bring their own mug.

Inspectors visited the school as part of the process to see if the changes were working.

Gemma said: "They had to do a full review of the school and point out the good and bad things they saw.

"They had to weigh the amount of food waste to see if the amount of food which was being recycled was increasing.

"They basically just measured to see if the plans in place were having an impact.

"The review was positive and said some of the ideas would used on their website as examples for other schools."

Despite obtaining the award, Gemma insists the hard work must continue as they are now looking for ways to increase their environment-friendliness, including working with the newly-installed Active Travel Hub to find ways to assist one another.

The teacher added that aside from the obvious benefits to the planet, she has seen a huge improvement in the individual pupils, such as much more confidence and better social skills.

"They have enjoyed it a lot," she said. "They are a lot more confident now when it comes to talking to teachers.

"Their social and speaking skills have really improved."