Published: Tuesday, 26th January, 2010 1:00pm

M&S Galashiels inspires Borders pupils to 'think green'

SCHOOL pupils in the Borders are gearing up to 'think green' as they prepare to embark upon another year of special educational in-store tours at Marks & Spencer's first 'green' Simply Food store in Galashiels.

As part of the Scottish Borders Schools Eco Challenge - an environmental partnership between Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Scottish Borders Council (SBC), school pupils across the region will attend a series of educational visits to the store this year.

Channelkirk Primary School pupils took part in the first store visit of the year last week and were joined by Executive Member for Education Councillor Catriona Bhatia and SBC's Eco Schools Development Officer Katharine Cotter.

Katharine, who organises the educational trips in conjunction with M&S Simply Food in Galashiels, said: "I am delighted that M&S is once again offering schools such valuable educational tours of its first green Simply Food store. The store visits were a huge success last year with many school pupils benefiting from the experience.

"I am sure the children taking part in the tours will gain a useful insight into some of the admirable steps that M&S is taking to contribute towards reducing its impact on the environment, including bird boxes around the store exterior, flooring made from recycled tyres and staff uniforms made with recycled plastic bottles."

M&S Simply Food Galashiels opened in October 2007 as the first new build 'eco-store' in the business. It incorporates a vast range of energy saving features as part of M&S' Plan A initiative, under which the company aims to become carbon neutral by 2012.

M&S Plan A Champion Bev Fendick leads the tours round the store in Galashiels. She added: "It's wonderful to be involved with the community in this way and all the staff here are looking forward to welcoming more pupils to the store.

"The first year of the project has been a huge success and working with Katharine will allow us to continue to build our relationships with schools throughout the Borders. We have been overwhelmed with interest in the tours from teachers and pupils alike, which is why we have decided to offer them again to schools to give more children in the area the chance to learn about the eco features at M&S Simply Food Galashiels."

Executive Member for Education, Councillor Catriona Bhatia, is keen for schools to take advantage of the visits: "This is a fantastic educational experience for children and will contribute to their learning experience as part of the curriculum as well as helping towards their own eco-projects. I know the children who took part in the tours last year were fascinated by some of the design features in the store so I hope it will encourage them as young citizens to combine their efforts to achieve a greater and sustained improvement in our local environment far into the future."

The children from Channelkirk were impressed by the floor made from recycled tyres, the lights in the storeroom which detects movement and heat, the rainwater collection to flush the toilets, the ice machine which operates the air-conditioning and the swift bird boxes outside the store.

As part of its Plan A initiative, M&S invested £35,000 in the Scottish Borders Schools Eco Challenge in 2008 to encourage school children to identify and present a project based around an environmental theme with a focus on sustainable development. Six schools were rewarded with cheques amounting to £1,200 from M&S for their efforts in the Challenge.

The money goes towards their eco-projects to help them work towards achieving their goals within the 'Eco Schools' international award programme.