Children at The Gates Primary School in Bolton campaigned for their school to act to help reduce pollution in our oceans. Their teacher explains how the children educated their peers and the wider community and stirred them into action.
The children chose to tackle the issue of the quality of our oceans and highlight the importance of having clean waterways. They started by researching pollution worldwide, across the UK and in our local area. The children discovered that our particular area has some of the most polluted waterways and beaches in the UK. tgbh their peers knew about the issue, so they created and distributed a survey. The results showed that more education was needed so the children decided to hold a whole school assembly informing their peers about the quality of our seas, oceans, and rivers and why it is so important to look after them. This included videos and helpful tips on how we can all help make a difference.
At the same time the children looked at ways our school could reduce its use of single use plastic. They created posters which were hung up around the inside and outside of our school as well as around the local area. These were also posted on our Twitter page and viewed over 1000 times. They also organised a school litter pick in which other children were invited to do their part.
The children also prepared and presented the campaign on our school radio station. They created a show which highlighted the issue of water pollution and provided information and tips encouraging others to act. This had a lot of live listeners and was also reposted onto social media for a wider audience.
Their subsequent campaign resulted in disposable plates being removed from our school kitchen.
‘I loved the independence that the project promoted within our school. The project was completely child led from the beginning and the skills they honed in the process translate directly to the working world – teamwork, planning, communication, forward thinking.’ – Mr Horsley, The Gates Primary School
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