NEWS FROM NPOWER

npower teams up with Denise Van Outen to bring urban schools ‘green’ spaces
npower launches its Climate Cops Green Fingers competition, as research reveals a quarter of kids spend less than 3 hours a week outside

LONDON 19th April 2010 – Denise Van Outen today launches the npower Climate Cops Green Fingers campaign to help primary school children develop ‘greener fingers’ by giving kids in urban schools access to growing spaces.

As it launches Climate Cops Green Fingers, npower finds that almost three quarters (72%) of today’s children want to spend more time enjoying themselves outdoors.

The average amount of time spent in the garden by our youngsters is just 4 hrs a week. In contrast, their parents spent an average of 12hrs outdoors. Unsurprisingly, nine out of ten parents think they have a better appreciation of nature and the environment than their child as a result.

To reverse this trend and help kids understand the science of growing, npower Climate Cops is offering ten urban schools the opportunity to win a growing makeover worth £5,000. The ten winning schools will have an area developed by environmental regeneration charity Groundwork into a ‘greener learning space.’ This could be anything from a window box to a roof allotment, working with even the smallest urban spaces to create something for kids to nurture, grow and learn from.

Garden enthusiast and mum-to-be Denise Van Outen comments:

“With a baby on the way I’m very aware of how important it is that the younger generation understand how important it is to protect the environment. Getting outdoors and seeing how plants grow is the first step kids can make in learning about nature and how valuable it is. We know kids love being outdoors, but they don’t always get the chance – my own niece and nephews can’t recognise vegetables picked straight from my vegetable garden! That’s why I’m supporting npower’s Climate Cops Green Fingers campaign to help under-7s learn about gardening and growing in the way they learn best - hands on and hands dirty!”

npower Climate Cops Green Fingers hopes to transform areas of grey built-up school environments into spaces that allow the children’s eco- imaginations to bloom. As part of npower’s Climate Cops environmental education programme, this living outdoor classroom aims to help pupils learn about energy through the science of gardening in a fun way.

For more information, visit www.npower.com/climatecops.

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About npower Climate Cops Green Fingers
npower Climate Cops Green Fingers is an inspiring project from npower focusing on bringing the learning of energy to life for four to seven year olds through science.

About npower
• npower is one of the UK's largest electricity suppliers and has 6.6 million customer accounts across the UK.

• npower sponsors the Test Match Series in England, Women's Test Series and the Village Cup.
• npower has been awarded platinum status in Business in the Community’s CR Index and is one of twenty-nine companies to have achieved the CommunityMark since its launch. All CommunityMark achievers have been recognised for demonstrating excellence in their holistic and strategic approach to community investment.

About Groundwork
• Groundwork helps people and organisations make changes in order to create better neighbourhoods, to build job skills and to live and work in a greener way. We operate across England, Wales and Northern Ireland and our charities work on thousands of projects each year. We focus our activity on disadvantaged communities where we can make most difference
www.groundwork.org.uk