OKEHAMPTON Primary School is celebrating after being named winner of the TOTAL Green School Award in the Totally Active category for the Wales and Western England region.

Their project entitled Eco Watch Outdoor Learning won them a cheque for £500 to put towards their school funds.

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.

The competition, which aims to generate interest in the environment and raise awareness of the need for sustainable energy sources, has received entries from almost 26,000 school children in 2010.

The Eco Watch Outdoor Learning project was the brainchild of 30 children aged between seven and eleven years old.

They developed a thriving school garden where they grow a wide array of vegetables, which are supplied with lots of compost from the school's own compost bins.

The school also has a popular outdoor learning programme involving field trips and activities for the children, their parents and the school's staff.

Fran Rickwood, eco school co-ordinator at Okehampton School said: 'The children are over the moon to have won the Totally Active award. They worked very hard on the project, which really demonstrates their environmental awareness. I am very proud of them.'

YPTE director, Peter Littlewood, said: 'It's amazing how many young people know about environmental issues but are disconnected from the natural world. The work at Okehampton Primary is enabling the children there to get back in touch with the natural world. We need more work like this to be going on in our schools.'

The TOTAL Green School Awards will run again in 2011. For details on how to enter visit: http://www.totalgreenschoolawards.org">http://www.totalgreenschoolawards.org