Five spaces are still available for schools to join Green Champions at no charge after the project was announced a winner in the Aviva Community Fund Poll.

Having secured sufficient votes to become a finalist, the project went through a judging process – where, according to Aviva, it “scored very highly against some very strong competition.”

Green Champions, run by the KM Charity Team, was among the winners named by Aviva earlier this year. The scheme will receive a grant enabling 25 schools to join the hundreds across Kent and Medway who are already helping pupils to embrace an eco-friendly lifestyle.

Rebecca Smith, deputy CEO of the KM Charity Team, said: “Applications are coming in but there are still five spaces left. Don’t miss out on this opportunity - all you need to do is get in touch and register your interest.”

She added: “We are so excited to be in a position to offer Green Champions for free and we can’t wait to get the new schools on board.”

The Green Champions package contains resources to encourage pupils on school councils or eco committees to take the lead in promoting green travel. They are rewarded - with prizes including limited edition t-shirts – for planning and carrying out activities that create a buzz around sustainable travel to their peers and families.

The KM Charity Team operates green travel schemes including Walking Bus, Green Footsteps and Active Wow (Walk on Wednesday). It works with 200 primary schools and succeeds in removing more than 300,000 school-run car journeys from Kent roads each year.

The charity’s work reduces traffic congestion and harmful carbon emissions as well as increasing the number of pupils – and their families – undertaking regular physical activity.

Schools wanting to register their interest to take up one of the final five funded slots for Green Champions should contact Debbie Possee at dpossee@thekmgroup.co.uk

Schools interested in joining Walk on Wednesday – rebranded as Super Wow for next academic year – should visit www.kmwalktoschool.co.uk/wow. Sign-ups received by July 1 will receive a 20% discount and go into a prize draw to win 400 books.