Pupils proved they weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty at a special recycling workshop aimed at teaching them how to live sustainably last week.

Ilford Recorder: Habiba Ahmed demonstrates the importance of recycling to children at the Read Academy in Ilford.Habiba Ahmed demonstrates the importance of recycling to children at the Read Academy in Ilford. (Image: Archant)

Year 1 and 2 pupils at Read Academy in Ley Street, Ilford, were thrilled with the two hour lesson in how to live as green a life as possible.

The 26 youngsters received a talk from Habiba Ahmed, recycling officer at Amey, who work with the London Borough of Redbridge before trying their hand at a number of games aimed at making recycling fun.

Among them were sorting exercises to help teach the children which items can be recycled and how, a brief presentation on the importance of recycling and a chance to play with a wormery to get more hands on with the decomposition process.

Mursheeda Mahmud, who helped organise the day, said: “It was great to see how much the kids really enjoyed it.

Ilford Recorder: Habiba Ahmed demonstrates the importance of recycling to children at the Read Academy in Ilford.Habiba Ahmed demonstrates the importance of recycling to children at the Read Academy in Ilford. (Image: Archant)

“I think what worked best was that they really had loads of activities to get involved with - they never stopped!

“We’ve had some great feedback from parents who said their children had started talking about trying to recycle more.”

Ms Mahmud, who has worked at the school for the last three and a half years, believed the session was crucial to teaching pupils valuable skills they would use later on in life.

She said: “It’s really important that we impress upon children from a young age the importance of looking after the planet, and this session was a great way to do that.

“Habiba, who led the session, came in and did all the hard work so we would all like to say a massive thank you to her.”

Ms Ahmed was thrilled with the youngsters’ response to the two hour workshop, and stressed the importance of young people working together to try and improve the environment.

“The session went really well and it was great that both year groups had an opportunity to work together,” she said.