YOUNG children in Ashton-under-Lyne have been working on a project which helps both the environment and homeless people.
Pupils at Our Lady of Mount Carmel RC Primary have been making blankets out of recycled crisp packets.
The youngsters were given the opportunity at the start of the academic year to apply to be a member of the school’s Eco Warrior team – which meets every Monday lunchtime to discuss things they can do to help.
During their first session, they looked at ways they could become more sustainable and the first mission they wanted to achieve was making a crisp packet survival blanket for homeless people.
Around 40 to 50 packets were needed per blanket and they were washed, dried and ironed together.
Ami Hurst, a Learning Support Assistant at the Holden Street school, said: “One of the ideas that the children came across was that crisp packets are not recyclable so we looked at different ways that we could change this.
“When we researched different ideas, we came across the idea to create crisp packet survival blankets for the homeless. The Eco Warrior team did a full presentation to the whole school to raise awareness of this and encouraged all children and staff in school to bring in empty crisp packets.
“Everyone helped collect thousands of packets. Once collected, the Eco Warriors then started to prepare them ready to be made into survival blankets for the homeless. This included washing them to ensure they were clean, sorting them into sizes, then ironing them together.”
The children have made around 10 blankets and the school contacted the ‘We Shall Overcome’ charity in Ashton-under-Lyne – which supports homeless people – to drop them off so its leader Pauline Town can distribute them.
“We are really lucky as a school to have Mrs Hayes, our Headteacher, who is a big supporter of all our ideas to help our local community,” Ami added.
“We will be continuing to grow and look at other ways to care for our world.”