RAISING standards of eco-friendliness has allowed one city centre school to hoist the Green Flag above its classrooms.

Pupils from New College School, in Oxford, have been rewarded for their work driving green initiatives over the past two years.

The school has received an Eco-Schools Green Flag award from environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.

The children have set up an eco-friendly stationery shop and produced an eco-newsletter, which explained their work, as well as taking part in local litter pick-ups with the support of Oxford City Council.

The school’s eco co-ordinator, Louise Brown, said: “Obtaining the Green Flag award is something that the whole school and its surrounding community can be proud of.

“Each pupil will be able to take away some degree of satisfaction in the knowledge that their actions have significantly altered their local environment.”

She added: “It has been a fantastic initiative for all involved, however, it is by no means over, as the greater challenge is to maintain what we have achieved so far and look towards ways of improving even further.”