Pocklington Prep School children marched straight into action at the start of a new school year with a litter-clearing blitz on West Green.

The Year 2 children are focusing on how to Reduce, Re-use and Recycle this term and they collaborated with Pocklington Town Clerk Gordon Scaife on their mission to help keep their community clean.

They also investigated rubbish brought in by classmate Nathan from his recycling box at home, discussing the materials it was made from and why. The children enjoyed spotting the recycling symbol on packaging so they knew it could be reprocessed into something else.

Year 2 class teacher Romney Walton said: “Activities like these build a sense of awareness of the children’s local environment so they learn to respect and take care of their own rubbish in a responsible way. It also empowers children, showing they can have an impact on pollution.”

She added: “They were excited to find some interesting rubbish such as a bicycle brake! We found that litter could be made of a variety of materials, but litter does not fit into a natural environment as it does not decompose or decay. Litter can be harmful to animals as well as not looking good!”

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle will continue to be the children’s focus and they are looking forward to a visit from Eco Shed, a business promoting natural, organic, eco-friendly products. The children will also be re-using litter for weird and wacky constructions such as buildings, machines and instruments…watch this space!