CHILDREN and staff of Okehampton Primary visited to the Science Museum in London last week to collect a regional award at the Total Green School Awards.

Their project 'Eco Man Returns' not only took top spot in the 'Totally Powered Up' category across Wales and western England, but was also declared regional champion for 2013.

Staff and 18 pupils joined other regional champions at the ceremony to receive a specially commissioned trophy and a cheque for £1,000 to put toward school funds. The national winners were a school in Nottinghamshire.

The Total Green School Awards is a nationwide competition for five to eleven year olds, which is run by the Young People's Trust for the Environment (YPTE) in partnership with Total.

It aims to generate interest in the environment and raise awareness of the need for sustainable energy sources, has received entries from almost 44,500 school children.

All the children at the school were involved in learning about how the need to reduce dependence on non-renewable energy in order to avoid climate change. They held a campaign to reduce energy use and monitored the impacts of their campaign on the school's energy use in subsequent weeks.

Classes competed in a Switch Off Fortnight to save as much energy as possible and the classes making biggest savings were given awards.

The school now provides 30% of its energy through solar panels fitted on the roof.

Central Devon MP Mel Stride paid a special visit to the awards ceremony to present Okehampton Primary with their award. He said: 'Given the intense competition for this award, Okehampton Primary's achievement is outstanding. My congratulations to Okey Primary's head teacher Hazel Fox and her staff, and of course to every pupil involved with the project. They should be very proud of their award.'