A Gloucestershire school has teamed up with an eco-friendly football club as part of an innovative new project to teach children about sustainability.

Year 7 pupils from Sir William Romney School in Tetbury visited Forest Green Rovers as the final part of a term-long study of the club's green ethos and its plans to build a new stadium, Eco Park.

The project has been running as part of the school curriculum for six weeks, and included lessons on sustainability, numeracy, geography and employment, before finishing with today's field trip to The New Lawn and the proposed site for FGR's new stadium near junction 13 of the M5.

The pupils went on FGR's Eco Trail Tour to find out about the sustainability measures in place at The New Lawn, got the chance to cook some vegan food, met club goalkeeper Sam Russell and discussed the club's plans for Eco Park.

Tanith Lynham, humanities leader of learning at Sir William Romney School, said: "Forest Green Rovers has been a fantastic vehicle to explore so many aspects of geography, as well as providing a perfect hook for many of our young students.

"The green and sustainable ethos of the club has allowed students to explore the feasibility of sustainability in sport.

"Whilst their plans to relocate have provided an ideal local geographical enquiry exploring the impacts of a move for all involved.

"It has been great to have such a geographically rich learning resource on our doorstep, as well as an opportunity to undertake a relevant and 'hot' geographical enquiry."

Sir William Romney School has already shared the lesson plans with other local schools as a free resource.

Helen Taylor, FGR ambassador, said: "It's been fantastic working with Sir William Romney School on this project. Pupils have been applying their skills and knowledge in lots of exciting tasks, from calculating the quickest and most sustainable way to travel to away games to learning about the impact of our potential move to a new stadium.

"It's a great template for making education fun and relevant, and it's a project we hope to continue to develop as more schools get involved".

Forest Green Rovers is the greenest football club in the world, and became the first fully vegan club last season when they removed all dairy products from the menu.

The sustainability features at The New Lawn include a solar powered robot lawnmower, electric car charging points and solar panels that provide energy for up to 30 per cent of the stadium.

Picture: Pupils working on the sustainability project