Whether it’s your school’s first-time litter picking, or you are regular litter heroes, clean-ups can be excellent school events and make for great local stories that deserve to be shouted about.
On this page you’ll find ideas for your pupils, inspiration and advice for your Great Big School Clean clean-up, as well as resources to help you spread the word.
Safety is the most important thing to consider when planning a clean-up.
We’ve created step-by-step information on how to assess risks, what to include in safety briefings; and advice for staying safe near highways, coastal areas and waterways.
We also have guidance for how to get hold of the right equipment and, if you’re thinking about cleaning up outside of your school grounds, there’s vital information about how to get your litter collected.
Clean-ups are fun, rewarding and can provide a real boost to children’s wellbeing; so we like to encourage the whole school to get involved whenever possible.
You could set a rota allowing a different class or year group the chance to join in a clean-up throughout the duration of the Great Big School Clean. Or, if you plan to have the clean-up outside the school grounds, you could involve your wider school community by inviting other family members.
We’ve created a range of free resources to help you spread the word. Click on the boxes below to download posters, social media graphics and press release templates.
Download our readymade graphics to help grab people’s attention.
Don’t forget to let us know what you are doing on social media. Tag us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram using @EcoSchoolsWales #SpringCleanCymru.
Let your school community know what’s happening with our easy-to-edit poster!
Clean-ups make for great local stories that deserve to be shouted about.
Tell local media about your clean-up and inspire others to get involved by downloading our press release templates below.
Don’t forget to congratulate any #LitterHeroes who take part by downloading our Great Big School Clean certificates.
Getting involved in a clean-up provides great opportunities for contextual learning with links to the Curriculum for Wales.
We have a whole range of primary and secondary resources which are designed to introduce young learners to some of the most important environmental issues while building key skills.
Don’t forget, participating in the Great Big School Clean is excellent evidence to use when applying for your Eco-Schools Green Flag.
Taking part in the Great Big School Clean is the perfect addition to an Eco-Schools Action Plan, so be sure to include it in yours.
Set your target: it could be to rid a particular area of litter, to spend a certain amount of time litter picking, or to give every learner the opportunity to keep their community clean!
Agree the details: Who, What, Where and When?
Consider how you will measure your progress: counting the number of bags collected is a great way to record your impact. You might want to take the numeracy opportunities further and separate into types of litter and analyse the results.
Evaluate your results: Will you be surprised by how much, or the type of litter you find? Discuss this information to help you decide what you do next.
When the Great Big School Clean is over, it’s time to let us know how successful it was! You can report your results by using our quick and easy online reporting system eCount Cymru. These results can be fed back to the whole school and used as evidence for your Eco-Schools Green Flag.
Tell us what you found and how much litter you collected.
Playing litter bingo is a great way to make a clean-up even more fun. Download our bingo card and see who can collect the most items!
