8th July 2010
THE pupils of Great Barr's Holy Name Primary School are Sandwell's 2010 Big Spring Clean litter champions, with a prize of £500 donated by West Midlands Police.
A presentation held at the school, in Cross Lane, on Thursday (24 June) saw a group of the children and headteacher Andrew Brennan accept the award. He said: "It was a good learning experience for our pupils – learning how to care for the environment and making a positive contribution to the community."
He added: "I hope that the owners of local business properties appreciate the hard work that the children put in.
"It is great that our children have become the champions and we are looking at spending some of the money on tools and equipment for our school garden and helping to fund an external mural which will enhance the playground."
Ninety-seven Sandwell schools took part in this year's Big Spring Clean, which ran from March 18 to June 18, along with community groups. The campaign, in its fourth year, resulted in 54 tons of litter being cleaned up off the borough's streets – 2.1 tons of it by 30 Year 5 pupils at Holy Name. More than 38 tons of the waste has been recycled.
This is a huge increase on 2009, when 16 tons of rubbish was collected during the Big Spring Clean campaign.
Tipton Litter Watch has been responsible for the schools' input into the campaign, which has seen 4,400 pupils, parents and teachers take part. Tipton Litter Watch project manager Lindsay Richmond said: "The support from Sandwell police officers this year for schools across the borough has been fantastic. A big thank you to all neighbourhood policing teams involved."
Members of the Great Barr and Yew Tree neighbourhood policing team attended the presentation. Great Barr and Yew Tree Sergeant Jamie Neadle added: "The team has fully supported the Big Spring Clean and we are all delighted that the hard work and commitment of the pupils at Holy Name has been recognised.
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