This year 43 schools entered the Portsmouth City Council annual Tidy Schools Competition. Both the Senior and Junior departments of Portsmouth High School walked away winners within their individual categories at a presentation ceremony which took place in the Lord Mayor’s Parlour on Wednesday 28 November.

Judges from the council's Clean City Services team and Colas who sponsored the competition took into account the tidiness of a school and its grounds, the commitment of the school, and how much children are involved in activities like litter picks.

The judging process began back in early October when schools were shortlisted. The judges then visited each school and based their results on the following criteria;

• Number and state of litter bins inside the school grounds and how effectively these were used.
• The amount of litter on the floor at the time of the visit
• Any special projects occurring such as litter campaigns, recycling campaigns and eco sites.

Head Girl Alex Lamacraft and Jessica Pearce collected the glass shield presented to the Senior School, whilst Jemima Lawson, Head Girl at the Junior School and Imogen Roberts collected the trophy for the Junior School.

School Business Manager, Tanya Coleman said, “ The pupils and staff deserve great praise, there were a huge number of schools entered into the competition and for both the Junior and Senior departments to win is wonderful. It was good to meet with the other winning schools and I’m sure there is much we could learn from them, hopefully we will do just as well next year – keep up the good work girls, the trophy belongs to the whole school community”