Published: Friday, 14th October 2022
Cannock Chase Council’s Environment Teams are delivering environmental awareness sessions in primary schools across the District over the next month as part of a new engagement programme addressing environmental issues.
Officers from the Environmental Protection and Street Cleansing teams will be visiting schools and delivering a fun and informative session to raise awareness of the importance of looking after the environment and disposing of waste properly. Each school will receive a 2-hour interactive session which will include a presentation by officers along with some fun environmental games and quizzes. Children will also get to meet the Litterbugs who will feature in Binworld. The Council’s Community Hero will also be making a guest appearance!
Over the next few weeks, the team will be visiting a total of 19 primary schools and will be engaging with over 1,500 children aged between nine and 11 years old.
This forms part of a wider environmental engagement project, ‘Binworld – 10+ years on!’.
This eco-musical experience offers a great opportunity for using theatre to promote the messages of recycling `REDUCE, REUSE, and RECYCLE ` as well as wider environmental issues such as climate change and more local issues such as littering, flytipping and dog fouling. It will reflect current issues as well as telling tell the story of Binworld, 10+ years on!
The Council has commissioned Split Mask Theatre, a local drama group led by the Assistant Headteacher at Kingsmead Academy to adapt and update the original Binworld script (2008) which was written by Majella Turner.
Working closely with Split Mask Theatre, the production will be rolled out across theatres in Cannock and Rugeley. Participating schools will be attending a performance in November.
Children attending the performance will also take part in a voting game which will introduce them into local democracy and the voting system.
Following on from this work, the Cannock Chase Cultural Education Partnership with the support of the Council and Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles, will continue to work with these primary schools and will be delivering a creative consultation session to help shape content for an Eco Film Festival which will be rolled out later next year.
Councillor Justin Johnson, Portfolio Leader for Environment and Climate Change, said: “This environmental engagement programme will not only bring recycling and the way we dispose of waste to the forefront, but will also challenge people’s behaviour towards the environment they live in.
“The environmental awareness sessions are a great way of educating our young children about the importance of the environment and climate change as well as encouraging them to spread the message among their family and friends.
“The special musical will also enforce these messages with characters MC Crisp Rapper and Professor Poop taking the nine to 11-year-olds on a musical journey where they will learn more about issues like recycling, fly-tipping, littering and dog fouling.
“It’s great to see the number of schools that have signed up to this free initiative and it is hoped they can take some of their learning and embed it within their own schools”.