Eco-Warriors clean up for the Great Big School Clean
On Friday 9 March, the Eco-Warriors of Wolsey House Primary School in Leicestershire, joined hundreds of other Eco-Schools across the country who are getting involved in this month’s Great Big School Clean.
Not content with simply litter-picking, these children are using their results to make positive changes for their school. Here the 15 Eco-Warriors (from years one to six) share their story and how it’s helped their Eco-Schools journey.
What we did
As part of the Great Big School Clean, their litter pick was around their school grounds. “First we went to the small playground where we found a lot of straws and left-over school fruit and vegetables.
“In the large playground, most litter seemed to be felt pens, pencils and birthday sweet wrappers. When we went along the path to the field gate we found more sweet and crisp packets.
“We think children are given snacks by their parents and they drop the wrappers when they’ve finished them. Rubie (Y6) said that there’s also a lot of similar rubbish down the hill towards the main exit from school.
“In total, we collected 3kg of rubbish, one large bin bag full.”
Why we did it
The school’s Eco-Coordinator explains more, “the children liked the idea of being part of a bigger campaign. The litter pick tied in with our school council asking for more bins for the playgrounds.
“It was a nice easy, achievable second action for our Eco-Schools awards, as their first choice was proving to be more difficult than they anticipated.”
And what’s next?
The Eco-Warriors share their next steps, “We concluded that more bins are needed – especially near the entrances to school, and we think that there should be another one in each playground.
“As a result of our litter pick, we want school to use paper straws and consider other ways to avoid throw-away plastic like milk bottles – 50 bottles a day are thrown away in the Robins alone!
“We would also like to report in an assembly to persuade people to take their litter home if they can’t see a bin and teach them the dangers of litter.”
Their Eco-Coordinator concludes their story, “our committee now feels that they have really achieved something – they have planned an action, completed it and reported on it.
“They also now have some follow-up actions to add to our plan for after Easter when we meet again.”
Well done Eco-Warriors, together you’ve made a huge difference to cleaning up your school and we are sure you’ll carry on doing lots of great things for your school.
