Volunteering sees eco garden ready to unlock more learning opportunities for pupils

Volunteers grabbed spades and rakes to get a school eco garden in great shape, so pupils can thrive and learn more about nature and climate change.

Five volunteers from national business water retailer Water Plus took part in the action, helping lay bark and cut back overgrown sections to increase access to the area. It was the finishing ground work and touches needed so the area at Co-op Academy Grove could be used for summer term activities.

The area will be used for pupils as a sensory garden as well as building awareness and learning about the environment. It will also form a base for the school’s Eco Club activities.

Deborah Zaher, Regional Community Development Manager at Co-op Academies Trust worked with Water Plus on the volunteering day and met the Water Plus team.

She said: “Huge thank you to the amazing volunteers from Water Plus! They were an incredible team to work with on the day, enthusiastic and doing whatever needed to be done to help transform this learning space for the children of Co-op Academy Grove.”

The volunteering action is the latest delivered by Water Plus, which delivers services including helping businesses to build bespoke water management plans and find opportunities for efficiencies with water and energy. Staff have also helped gather more than 80 crates of donations for a Foodbank and volunteers joined a girls and ladies league flagship Cup Final event for 200 young footballers and attended by 2,000 people, in the last year.

Ashleigh Hampson, an IT Service Delivery Manager at Water Plus who volunteered, said: “It was really nice to be outdoors and making such a difference, as our team’s passionate about providing great customer service, building skills for the future and helping customers with their sustainability goals.

“It’s been great teaming-up with one of our customers to deliver a lasting impact for communities, while raising awareness around positive environmental action to take and I can’t wait to see what the children do with the space.”

Mrs Shirley Carrigan, who is Headteacher of Co-op Academy Grove, in Northwood, Stoke-on-Trent, and also met the volunteers, said: “Thank you to the great and kind-hearted Water Plus team in helping us create such a great location for learning.

“Sustainability isn’t just a topic in the curriculum – it’s a value that shapes character and community. Shining a light on this area empowers young people for the future. With every eco project and every student-led garden, young people are learning that sustainability isn’t an abstract idea – it’s something they can get involved with, shape with their own hands and make a positive difference. 

“It’s by nurturing these values now, that we’re helping build a generation ready to help care for their communities and their planet.”

Co-op Academies Trust has schools and colleges located across 4 regions.

There are 38 Co-op Academies with more than 21,000 students across primary, secondary, post-16 and special educational needs, with plans for more schools to join in the coming year.

Water Plus, which won a 2025 UK Customer Satisfaction Award for Sustainable Customer Service, works with organisations including schools, academies, universities and other the public sector sites and businesses in England and Scotland, providing water retail services including customer service and account management, meter reading, billing, water-saving site audits and additional water tracking technology.

Its Be Wise On Water awareness and engagement initiative and collaborative approaches with customers has seen Staffordshire sites helped by Water Plus to save water:

• Alongside helping more than 300 schools to save water, in a large-scale approach that saw more than 4,100 water-saving visits to a range of sites, a school reduced water waste after an underground leak was located and fixed through Water Plus. Water use dropped by 510 litres an hour, which could have added an estimated annual wholesaler cost of £14,500 onto its bills without action.
• Savings from the 4,100+ visits would cut more than £21,700 a week off water bill costs** and the water volume saved would keep a small UK town supplied, showing how water efficiencies can help with water scarcity risks in the UK.

Water Plus, which is also part of a Careers hub working with schools, to help young people thrive in the future.

More on the additional actions Water Plus is taking to help the environment, supporting projects preventing carbon emissions, increasing water efficiency and helping communities, at: www.water-plus.co.uk/about-us/corporate-social-responsibility-sustainability/ .

To find out more about Co-op Academy Grove, go to: www.grove.coopacademies.co.uk/

Additional information:

83 crates of donated items gathered in Water Plus volunteering for Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank, with food donations amounted to more than 880kg, in November 2025. The amount collected will feed 90 people with three nutritionally balanced meals, for three days, in the emergency food packs. Volunteers from Water Plus joined the Staffordshire Girls and Ladies League Cup Final event in May 2025.

**4,160 visits completed April 2025 to February 2026, saving 1,031,081 litres of water a day (1,031 cubic metres of water a day). It would cut more than £4,340 a day – £21,700 in a 5-day week – off water bill costs. Based on wholesaler water cost per cubic metre of water. Cumulative saving.