A school in Reading has won the Guinness World Record for the largest amount of plastic bottles used to make a sentence.

This February, schoolchildren, staff and volunteers from St Edward’s Prep School got together to make the sentence ‘There is only one Earth’, made out of 3,325 recyclable bottles.

A Reception child came up with the winning sentence, and was giving the honour of announcing to fellow staff, parents and volunteers that the school had won the Guinness World Record.

The Head Boy then read out the words on the official certificate, with fellow pupils shouting ‘yes, we did it!’

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The announcement was made at a special assembly today (Friday, March 25).

Celebrating the achievement, Jonathan Parsons, the heateacher said: “We are so excited to have achieved the record, but most importantly for how far our message has reached.

“Within all of our studies we encourage the children to apply their learning and take action to make the world a better place.

“It shows the children that their voice is important and that we can work together to make a difference.

“As the statement says, there is only one Earth, and it is our children’s as well as ours.”

Meanwhile, a Year 6 pupil said: I feel elated. It’s incredible how we have managed to achieve a World Record. I was sure that we would not be able to collect 3325 bottles… but we did with great teamwork and collaboration.

On the day of the attempt, children, staff and volunteers made the sentence while auditors counted up the number of bottles for submission.

Reading Chronicle: The record breaking sentence 'There is only one Earth'. Credit: St Edward's PrepThe record breaking sentence 'There is only one Earth'. Credit: St Edward's Prep

Mr Parsons said that the attempt had been a “tremendous combined effort” which involved designing the sentence, gathering the bottles and making sure the maths was right.

A Year 5 pupil said: “I am feeling very happy as this is a great achievement. It felt amazing when we found out and I can’t believe I now have a world record medal to keep forever”

Teacher Miss Clark added: “What a big achievement for a small school like ours and we can all be so proud of this!”

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The previous record for the biggest plastic bottle sentence was held by staff at a shopping mall in Dubai in August 2020, who used 2,650 bottles to write ‘#We Are All Responsible’ imploring people to take personal hygiene measures during the coronavirus pandemic.

St Edward’s Prep is a private school located in Tilehurst Road, West Reading.

Until recently it has been an all boys school, with girls joining the reception class for the first time in September 2021.