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 an editable poster and social media frame to help your spread the word.
Don’t forget to let us know what you are doing on social media. Tag us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using #SpringCleanCymru.
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.
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!
When the Great Big School Clean is over, it’s time to let us know how successful it was! You can share your litter findings by using our quick and easy online reporting system. 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.
Don’t forget to congratulate any #LitterHeroes who take part by downloading our Great Big School Clean certificate.