Children from a Peterlee primary school braved sub-zero temperatures to clean up litter on the beach at Crimdon Dene.
Year 2 pupils from Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School, part of the Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust, took part in a beach clean and survey after learning about the ocean habitat and marine life in science.
“When the children saw images of what litter can do to sea creatures, they were desperate to take part in a beach clean,” said Year 2 class teacher Susan Jones. “They really wanted to help and make a real difference.
“It was sub-zero temperatures, but this didn’t put the children off. Everyone wrapped up warm and toasty.”
After a safety talk, the group picked up litter and conducted a survey of the different litter they spotted. Litter included plastic, dog toys, scraps of metal, empty cans, fishing equipment and even a piece of orange carpet.
The group then created some beach art including mermaids, a turtle, jellyfish and killer whale. After lunch and a hot chocolate at the Dunes Cafe to warm them up, they went on a wintry walk around the Dene, where they discovered giant icicles, frosted twigs and frozen streams.
The children are keen to invest in litter-picking equipment so they can carry out more litter picks in the school grounds and in public places across Peterlee.
Mrs Jones added: “They said that they would like to encourage other year groups to take part as well so that we can protect the wildlife of Peterlee and make Peterlee look beautiful!
“We always try to promote our school values of Ready, Respect, Safe and we know the importance of respecting our world and keeping everyone safe. We hope to build a better awareness of the dangers of throwing litter to animals and humans and to encourage all year groups in school to take part in litter-picking exercises within school and the local area.
“As a Catholic school, we live out Gospel values each day. Psalm 24:1 tells us that everything in the world belongs to God. Picking up litter is a great way of living this out and making the world a better place!”
Teaching assistant Marguerite Elwick said: “It was wonderful to see the children so enthusiastic and involved in helping our community by picking up litter in sub-zero conditions.”
Year 2 pupil Layla said: “We shouldn’t throw litter because animals can choke or get trapped in it and die” while Lewis predicted: “I think there might be more rubbish on the beach in the summer because more people visit so I would love to do a beach clean in the summer too.”
The trip has fired the litter-picking group’s passion to keep the environment clean and they are already making plans with Explore SeaScapes for a summer trip to carry out a survey comparing the amount of litter found in summer compared to winter. The children are already looking forward to an ice-cream as their reward!
The trip was organised after the school liaised with Explore SeaScapes and the transport costs were funded by Durham County Council.