BUDEHAVEN Community School was delighted to welcome visitors from the government’s Environment Agency on Friday, January 12.

Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the Environment Agency, visited Bude to make an important announcement about plastics and the environment, and having heard of the work of Budehaven students to clean up the local beaches, she visited the schools with Richard Stockdale, area director, Karen Burrows, board member, and Dave Miller from the Environment Agency, who had arranged the visit to the school.

The visitors were welcomed and escorted by headteacher, Tracey Reynolds, and head of Year 9, Martin Reay.

Students were involved in a flexible learning day, the third ‘clean and create’ day, led by the heads of the art department, Rachel Miller and Mel Potier. Ms Howard Boyd spent time meeting students in the art department and speaking to them about their passion for protecting their coastline.

Students were unfazed by the presence of a film crew and photographers and relayed to Ms Howard Boyd the importance of keeping the oceans and beaches clean and free from plastics.

Students also had the opportunity to quiz the Environment Agency representatives about the importance of the authority, career opportunities and their thoughts on the greatest threats to the environment. Their response certainly inspired Budehaven students and no doubt there are some future employees of the Environment Agency in their midst!

Ahead of the day, students completed a beach clean, created posters for the Bude Cleaner Seas community and were able to show the visitors the art work they were creating from the plastic waste that they found on the beaches, including ‘ghost net bowls’, creating ‘yellow fish’, ‘Cleaner Seas poetry’ and a recycling plastics, flower workshop — the latter being creations for the innovative eco garden the school is currently developing.

The students’ activities were also supported by other visitors from the community — Avril Sainsbury of Bude Cleaner Seas, Zoe Gascoyne from Your Shore Beach Rangers and Claire Giner, secretary for the project, A Greener Bude.

After visiting the school, Ms Howard Boyd made an announcement at Summerleaze beach that a new plastics and sustainability team would work across Devon and Cornwall with businesses, local councils, charities and community action groups, such as the Bude Cleaner Seas Project.

A spokesperson from the school said: “Budehaven Community School is proud of its students’ commitment and efforts through the clean and create project, and is looking forward to welcoming back Ms Howard Boyd in the future.”