YORKSHIRE Water and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust were at Sacred Heart Primary School in Ilkley as it launched its latest “Soak it Up” workshop.

The innovative approach to reducing water in drainage is the latest education workshop delivered by Yorkshire Water, which has now partnered with 18 schools across the region to teach the importance of water sustainability.

Students at Sacred Heart Primary School in Valley Drive, Ilkley, were treated to a one-day interactive workshop where they were introduced to sustainable drainage solutions such as roof gardens, vegetable gardens and water butts and learnt how they can help the environment and reduce flooding.

The pupils were given a board where they could build their own sustainable drainage system.

The team which prevented the most amount of water from reaching the drain was crowned the winner.

Education and volunteering manager at Yorkshire Water, Anne Reed said: “Sustainable drainage systems are simple but highly effective way to utilise rain water. They can give a major boost to the local environment and to local wildlife whilst also playing a big role in flood prevention.

“We are thrilled to work with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to spread awareness and deliver some fun activities for local schools.”

Alixena Lubomski, headteacher at Sacred Heart Primary School, said: “The children across Sacred Heart’s Key Stage 2 classes all thoroughly enjoyed their ‘Soak it up’ workshops and assemblies recently.

“They were fascinated by the range of challenges that they were presented with by the team and had to think deeply about how they could solve the complex problems that our school grounds present in relation to holding surface water back from filling the nearby river.

“The children, staff and parents are very excited about the volunteers’ day in the summer term when the children’s ideas come into being.”

The volunteers day will see volunteers from Yorkshire Water, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and partners go into the schools and along with the children build some of the sustainable drainage systems.

What will be built has not yet been decided.