Educational projects
Presentations about the detrimental effect that litter / dog fouling can have on the environment are carried out in schools as part of the Tidy Schools Award Scheme.
The presentations to Key Stage 1 children include pictures which show that litter and dog fouling don’t just look messy, but can be dangerous to people and pets / animals and can attract vermin.
The presentations to Key Stage 2 children include information on the reuse and recycling of waste as well as the above information.
Presentations to High Schools identify the dangers of litter and also give information on the law, especially fixed penalty notices, which can be served on people aged 14 and above.
Another project is Streetsmart. Streetsmart is a pack which has been sent to all Primary, 1st and Middle Schools within the borough.
The pack contains a number of worksheets to identify what vandalism is, the bad effects vandalism can have and the difference between vandalism and play:
- Worksheet 1 - Introduction to vandalism
- Worksheet 2 - What is vandalism?
- Worksheet 3 - Area Survey
- Worksheet 4 - Opinion Survey
- Worksheet 5 - Who does vandalism affect?
- Worksheet 6 - Graffiti
- Worksheet 7 - There’s nothing to do around here!
- Worksheet 8 - Poster Design
- Worksheet 9 - Your own exhibition
Although a number of the worksheets are completed in the classroom, Waste Strategy Officers give assistance with:
- An anti litter presentation as described above.
- An area survey. The children carry out a survey of the streets around the school. This involves them going out of school and marking on a map examples of vandalism, including litter, graffiti, broken windows, vandalised fences, etc.
- An Opinion Survey. The children again go out of school and gain the opinion of local residents on the effects vandalism has on them, why people vandalise things and the best ways to combat vandalism. Waste Strategy Officers then analyse the results.
A visit by cleansing vehicles to show the children the machinery involved in removing litter from streets.
The work culminates in an Assembly to the school and others (parents, etc.). The assembly includes a display showing examples of work carried out e.g. anti vandalism posters designed by the children, area survey map and the results of the opinion survey. The assembly also includes participation by the school children involved. The sole aim of Streetsmart is to make North Tyneside a nicer place to live by wiping out vandalism.
Now that North Tyneside Council has been set challenging statutory recycling targets, we have developed a new presentation all about recycling which covers the "waste hierarchy" i.e. reduce, re-use, recover and recycle. Pupils are given ideas about what to do at each stage in the hierarchy and an overview of how the materials are reprocessed.