Councillor Michael McNestry, Les Milne (Gateshead Council’s Environmental Strategy Team) and Melanie Hills (Northern Kites) with children from Rowlands Gill Primary School who contributed to the leaflet. Photo - Kaleel Zibe.
Northern Kites and Gateshead Council have launched a novel sustainability scheme, which uses red kites to show children and their parents how they can live more sustainable lifestyles
This week, 60,000 leaflets have been distributed to children in all schools in Gateshead, and all of the Northern Kites Adopt-a-Kites schools across the region, which will encourage them to ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle with Sprite the Kite’.
Councillor Michael McNestry, Environment Portfolio holder for Gateshead Council, said “Caring for the environment and learning how our actions can make a difference is an important part of everyday life for everybody! Gateshead Council have worked in partnership with Northern Kites through our Local Agenda 21 Team, to develop an education package that can help pupils and their families learn about sustainability and encourage more sustainable actions by using the red kites as a guide.”
Melanie Hills, Access & Education Officer of the Northern Kites Project, said, “This package for schools includes specially designed ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle with Sprite the Kite’ leaflets for pupils to take home and share with their families. For teachers looking for an innovative way to deliver sustainability in the classroom, the leaflets are supported by PowerPoint presentations on an accompanying CD-Rom.”
It is hoped that the leaflets, printed on recycled paper, will help show that by following the red kite’s example of minimising energy use, not wasting water and using only what is necessary, the world will be made a better place.
Northern Kites, the Project that has brought the red kite back to the northeast of England, is a partnership between the lead partners Natural England and the RSPB and Gateshead Council, Northumbrian Water, the National Trust and the Forestry Commission supported with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and SITA Trust.