Banchory Primary School was named national winner of the 2008 Green School Awards - the UK's leading environmental award for seven to 11-year-olds.

In front of an audience of 220 schoolchildren, teachers and VIP guests at the national awards ceremony at London Zoo, the youngsters received their award from X-Factor presenter Dermot O'Leary, president of the Young People's Trust for the Environment (YPTE).

The school was named overall winner for its 'Bags in Banchory' scheme which judges described as "a far reaching project which raises awareness about the use of plastic bags".

The Piper reported back in March how, after carrying out a survey in a local supermarket, the youngsters calculated that a staggering one million bags a year left that one shop alone.

They then designed and produced their own reusable bags and sold them locally. Demand was so high, they sold their first batch of 500 within two days and new stock has now had to be commissioned.

The scheme was part of an enterprise project by 23 P2/3 pupils and the bag was designed by seven-year-old P2 pupil, Frances Sealy. Banchory Primary School beat off competition from more than 200 other schools from around the UK to take the title.

Class teacher Ruth MacDonald said: "I thought they did really well being the Scottish winners, so when they announced we'd won the national award, I was stunned into silence! It's just tremendous for the children and they are over the moon.

"It was a fabulous day all round as some of the children who travelled to London had never been to Aberdeen Airport before, let alone been on a plane and been to London!

"The parents' support has been wonderful and they really helped the project - it's been a whole community effort".

The school won £1,000 when they were announced as Scottish winners, as well as a sculpture of a seal and pup. As UK champions, they won an all-expenses-paid environmental discovery week.

Mrs MacDonald said the £1,000 they won, along with the £300 profit from bag sale, would go towards £1,000 already in their eco-fund and would possibly be spent on a wind turbine for the school.

She also hoped to hand over the Bags in Banchory project folder to Banchory Library to display over the summer - it includes questionnaires sent out to parents, designs for the finished bag and photos taken at each stage of the scheme.

The project ran in conjunction with the Banchory bags Campaign (BbC) - to eventually rid the town of plastic carriers and encourage people to use reusable bags each time they shopped.

BbC convener, Christiana Brown, said: "I think it's absolutely brilliant news - just fantastic! They really helped our campaign and what they did was very useful indeed.

"All credit goes to them and to their class teacher, Ruth MacDonald, who took up my initial suggestion that they might be interested in joining our campaign - she really got into the spirit of it.
"It's fantastic that these youngsters are taking this message on board because that generation is the one we need to target. I am really thrilled for them!"

The Green Schools Awards aim to inspire young people to take an active interest in the environment and to raise awareness of the need for sustainable energy sources. It is run by the YPTE and supported by TOTAL, the fourth-largest energy company in the world.

Dermot O'Leary said: "As president of the YPTE, I just love being a part of the Green School Awards. More than 6,000 children have been involved in this year's scheme and it's really gratifying to see so many young people taking an interest in environmental matters. They are clearly very aware of the environment around them and have submitted some really inspired projects. It gives us all hope for the future".