New Forest

Pupils at Priestlands Secondary in Pennington are working hard to make their school totally sustainable.

The kids have formed a group called "The Eco-Warriors" to come up with ideas on how to improve the school and learn about sustainable living in the process.

They're generating their own energy, recycling waste, growing vegetables and even breeding their own pigs to produce food for the school canteen.

Priestlands School pigs

The main project has been renovating an old walled garden in the school grounds which had fallen into disrepair. 

Starting in summer 2006, teams of pupils and parents spent their Saturday mornings volunteering to strip ivy off the walls and bring the 18th century garden back into productive use.

Science teacher Kit Rogers said: "It's been a real roller-coaster ... because of the enthusiasm of the kids, we've really made some progress."

A local farmer helped out by providing pigs to help clear the ground - and the pigs soon added piglets.

Chicken houses were the next addition to the garden, with students also growing their own fresh vegetables and herbs.

Work on the walled garden

The food produced has been sold to the school canteen. The children have even made their own sausages and plucked the chickens.

Kit Rogers said it helped them understand the food chain: "On the whole, the children have handled it extremely well and can discuss all the different areas of food production."

The project is part of the Eco-School's programme - an international initiative to encourage schools to analyse their operations and become more environmentally sustainable.

They have also had financial help from the Hampshire Gardens Trust and the Prince's Trust.

Kit insists it has been a valuable learning experience for the 11-16 year old pupils taking part:

 "They get an understanding of where they get their food from but it's also about living sustainably The kid's eco code is 'be the change' - it's all about changing behaviour - that's really where the big changes occur.