‘PASSIONATE’ pupils from a Coventry school have been showcasing their efforts to create a greener future during an inspirational visit from a Coventry MP.
St John Fisher Catholic Primary School welcomed Coventry East MP Mary Creagh to discuss the importance of taking care of the environment and tackling climate change.
During the visit, Ms Creagh spoke to Year 5 pupils about her role as Minister for Nature, including her experience at international climate summit COP30, held in Brazil, as well as some of the initiatives she is leading to improve the UK’s environment.
She also spoke about how the Department for Education was encouraging schools to focus more on biodiversity, and gave some tips on what can be done in the school grounds to help reduce carbon and support insects and wildlife, such as planting hedges and wildflowers.
She then joined the school’s Eco Team to visit the forest school area and hear more about the efforts being made by pupils and staff at the school to tackle climate change.
The school’s initiatives include litter picking in the community, reducing food waste in the kitchen, installing energy-efficient LED lighting, launching a book swap scheme to prevent books going to landfill, uniform recycling and championing education around ethical produce.
During 2026, the school will implement more environmental initiatives, including encouraging families to swap single use plastics for reusable containers in lunchboxes.
Ms Creagh said: “It was fantastic to meet the pupils at St John Fisher and see first-hand how passionate they are about protecting nature and the planet.
“I always encourage people to think local, act global when looking at tackling climate change, and the steps the school is taking are key examples of how small actions locally can make a big difference to our planet.
“I’m looking forward to returning to the school to see all of their exciting future plans come to fruition.”
The school’s Vice Principal Pauline Finn said: “We were extremely pleased to welcome Mary Creagh, who is both the MP for our area and Minister for Nature.
“Our Year 5 pupils have been learning about COP30, so hearing about Mary’s experiences at the conference was the perfect way to bring this to life.
“Our Eco Team also did an excellent job at showcasing all of the environmental initiatives we have in place at the school and how incredibly hard they work to drive these forwards – they really did us proud.
“We’re now going to be taking onboard Mary’s suggestions of what more we could be doing, and our Eco Team will be planting wildflowers in the school grounds in 2026.”
