Pupils from across Kent have been rewarded for creating the biggest buzz around eco-friendly travel.

Youngsters from five schools were crowned best Green Champions during a presentation at Leeds Castle. The children received limited edition Green Champion t-shirts for organising activities that generated the most excitement amongst pupils about walking, cycling or scootering to school.

The schools were Bapchild and Tonge Primary School, Regis Manor Community School, St Michael’s Junior School, St Teresa's Catholic Primary School and Cliftonville Primary School.

The eco council from Bapchild and Tonge Primary School was praised for the extent of their activities. The youngsters gave an assembly to the school, wrote to all of the children in the reception class and spoke to parents. They also produced a poster, took photographs of their walk to school for the school’s website, and wrote an article for the school newsletter.

Regis Manor Community’s school council organised a successful poster competition. There was one winner per class and prizes were awarded in assembly with the winning posters put on display around the school.

The school council St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School also ran a popular poster contest to promote green travel, exhibiting posters in every classroom.

The school council, known as Green Ambassadors, at St Michael’s Junior School introduced Walk on Wednesdays (WOW) and monitors which pupils walk to school or park and stride each week. The school council has also organised two competitions: to design a certificate for the weekly walk to school winners, and to design a banner to stop parents from parking on the zig-zags outside the school.

Cliftonville Primary School had the largest number of pupils taking part in the Green Champion initiative. Twenty four pupils – double the number of the other winning schools - divided into two teams of mixed ages to produce a sophisticated campaign to promote green travel. The two groups gave a speech in assembly; one used PowerPoint while the other told a story using props and mime. They teamed this with questions about green travel, introduced a poster contest and gave out information sheets for pupils to give to their parents.

Green Champions is part of the award-winning KM Walk to School initiative led by Kent County Council and Medway Council and supported by Ashford Borough Council, Canterbury City Council, Maidstone Borough Council, Thanet District Council, Mini Babybel, Specsavers, Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, Countrystyle Recycling, Golding Homes, Southern Water, Independent Music Productions, Leeds Castle, Chaucer Foundation, Eurostar, Orbit South, Jelf Insurance Brokers and Whitefriars shopping area.

For more information including a video of the event, visit www.kmwalktoschool.co.uk. If you are a head teacher and you would like to register your school for any of the KM Walk to School projects, including Walk on Wednesday and Active Bug, call Louise Rogerson on 0844 2640291.