Northbrook Primary Academy persuades South Ribble Council to ban balloon and lantern releases

The year 5 class at Northbrook Primary Academy have managed to action change by writing to their local council about a campaign called 'Don't Let Go' in which councils can pledge to ban balloon and lantern releases at their events.

The letters clearly struck a chord with Councilor Mike Titherington, who raised the motion at the council’s last cabinet meeting (Wednesday September 21), in which it was then passed.

Northbrook students were invited to the meeting, with an opportunity for them to speak before the motion was discussed, whilst Mike Titherington also visited Northbrook last week to meet the class and thank them for raising the issue.

Christine Adams, Executive Headteacher at Northbrook Primary Academy said: “We are so proud of our children at Northbrook and the difference they are trying to make in our world. They have done so much reading and research about the changes that can be made to help our environment and they are now being proactive in changing not only the things they do in their own lives but influencing others to change. They have produced adverts to persuade others not to use plastic straws because of their effect on the environment, sponsored a polar bear, planted green planet flower bombs, and are developing ideas about planting a wildflower meadow in school.

“Through their research they found out about ‘Don’t Let Go’ which asks local councils to ban the release of balloons and lanterns at their events and they decided to use their excellent persuasion skills to write to South Ribble Borough Council to persuade them to adopt this motion and make a difference here in our local area. They won’t stop here…they are already planning to take this motion to other groups to persuade them of the difference they can make.”

Year 5 pupil Hannah, who spoke at the council meeting added: “I was amazed when the Mayor asked who was opposed to the motion and no one put their hand up. It was a unanimous decision!”

Their campaign started after the children read ‘Mother Earth is weeping’ by Clare Donald for World Book Day, which sparked an interest in environmental issues and led to them undertaking research and creative projets on the topic throughout last year.

In one of their other books, the children came across a dolphin character who had to be cut free from balloon strings, and soon after the class were “horrified” to find a deflated balloon with a string when on a school trip.

Their teacher, Mrs Spence showed them the Marine Conservation Society website for ideas on action they could take, where they came across the campaign called ‘Don’t Let Go’ and noting that South Ribble was not included in the list of councils that had banned balloon and lantern releases, this prompted the beginning of their persuasive mission.

A spokesperson for Endeavour Learning Trust, in which Northbrook is a part of, said: “Young voices are so important, and for primary school children to see they have the potential to make real change is such an important message.”