STAFF and pupils are celebrating after becoming the first school in the North-East to achieve ‘Plastic Free’ status.

St Bede’s RC Primary School, in Sacriston, near Durham, has carried out all sorts of activities to tackle plastic pollution.

Youngsters carried out a ‘plastic boycott’ day, held a beach clean at Seaburn and a science week with the theme of ‘The Plastic Tide’.

Children also wrote letters to North Durham MP Kevan Jones, who presented them with the award on Friday, and tweeted messages companies whose plastic packaging was found littering our grounds to pressure them to change their packaging.

St Bede’s is the fourth school in the country to get the status.

Headteacher Eve Alderson said: “We have made a number of changes within our school.

“For example, we wrote to ‘Cool Milk’ and now receive our milk in large cartons to pour in to cups rather than using cartons with straws.

“We are not laminating work for our displays any more, are using refillable water bottles, have stopped using glitter and our cook is using foil instead of cling film.”