Wilnecote student Aleasha is taking direct environmental action by kayak, clearing debris and discarded plastic from our local rivers and canals. Alongside her watersports club, her recent weekend clean-ups have retrieved everything from stray shopping trollies to sunken bicycles, proving that practical care and real teamwork make a lasting difference beyond the school gates.

Most weekend hobbies do not involve hauling a rusted shopping trolley out of a canal, but for Aleasha, that was simply all in a morning’s work.

As an active member of her local kayak club, Aleasha spends her spare time navigating the riverways around Tamworth with a very clear mission. While out on the water, the group regularly scouts the banks and shallows to clear away rubbish that threatens native wildlife and spoils our local walking routes.

Balancing inside a kayak while fishing out floating debris takes plenty of core strength and patience. While typical trips yield bags full of stray bottles, food wrappers, and plastic containers.

Working together to manoeuvre their boats into position, Aleasha and her crew hauled out a fully submerged pushbike, followed closely by a discarded supermarket trolley wedged deep into the riverbed.

Seeing our students dedicate their free time to making our corner of Staffordshire a cleaner, brighter place is something we are immensely proud of. Aleasha exemplifies the kindness, energy, and shared responsibility that sit at the very heart of life at our school.