Monmouthshire pupils highlight council spelling error

Monmouthshire council admits it got its spellings wrong on recycling bags, after letters from pupils at Llanvihangel Crucorney primary school

Pupils at a primary school have written to officials highlighting a glaring spelling error on council recycling bags.

More than 20 pupils at Llanvihangel Crucorney school, Monmouthshire, noticed that the word 'separate' was printed in error as 'seperate'.

The council accepts a mistake was made, and says it will be meeting children from the class next week.

Recycling officials say the error will be corrected when new bags are printed.

In a letter to children at the school, the county's recycling officer Rebecca Blunt said: "Thank you so much for all your letters pointing out the spelling mistake on our new recycling bags.

"We are grateful to you for bringing this to our attention and it just goes to show that even big organisations like Monmouthshire County Council (employing lots of intelligent grown ups) can still make mistakes!"

One of the letters sent to Monmouthshire council Enlarge Image

'Appalling'

The spelling error was first spotted by teacher Helen Pritchard, who decided to take one of the recycling bags in to the school.

She said her pupils, aged between eight and 11, were quick to spot the mistake, and she encouraged them to write to the council.

In one of the letters, one of the children stated: "This is bad because we are children and you are adults and we know how to spell 'separate' and you don't.

"It is appalling and if I were you I would be embarrassed."

The children will meet the county recycling officer next week to discuss their own views on recycling.

The council confirmed that it will continue using the old recycling bag stocks for the time being.

"We will not waste taxpayers money by replacing them but we will make sure all new bags we order have the error corrected," Ms Blunt told the school.