THE eco-friendly efforts of sixth form students at a school in Barnard Castle have been rewarded with a national prize.

Teesdale Comprehensive School has been awarded an Eco-Schools bronze award, recognising the work of a group of eight students who have spent the past six months looking at how their school can become greener.

Through the work of the group, which meets at least once a fortnight, each one of the 40-plus classrooms at Teesdale School will contain a recycling bin for waste paper from next month.

Group members worked all last term on developing an eco action plan to improve recycling and energy use in the school. They interviewed the school bursar and councillors and budgeted a plan to introduce recycling and sustainable energy use throughout the school.

Next term, the students will present their work to the governing body and will be giving assemblies and writing press releases.

The pupils are also hoping to gain the fuel Eco-Schools Green Flag Award.

One of the sixth formers, Emma Smith, said: "We started to look at how we could help reduce the waste produced by the school and saw that each classroom was throwing away a lot of waste paper every day.

"The school has been really good in working with us and we're hoping to do more things in the future."

The group will look at issues such as water usage and the amount of energy spent on lighting.

Deputy headteacher Alan Nolan said: "Young people today are more aware of green issues than adults, so it makes sense that they should be behind the decisions."