17th & 18th March 2025 St Mary's RC Primary hosted me for the second year to run the Little Litter Warriors program. It was heartwarming to be remembered by the pupils. The visit was fantastic. Reception and Year 1 played the recycling game and picked litter on site. Year 2 cleaned the school perimeter, Year 3 worked behind the school in car park areas, Years 4 and 5 went to the local park, and Year 6 cleaned the community area. Together, they collected 5,326 pieces of litter, with the oldest item dating back to 1993. The children and staff were a credit to their school and community. Wychavon district council fund the educational visits for all their district school find out more here https://www.wychavon.gov.uk/environmental-crime/free-litter-education-sessions-for-schools

On 12th March I welcomed Welland Primary school aboard our districts anti-litter campaign. We completed a whole school assembly that seen many hand raised to ask question after that was lovey to see such passion and interest on this topic. Our first workshop was with reception class that seen them litter pick their school grounds collecting 348 pieces of litter. The other 4 workshops seen us head out in to the local community where the children hunted out litter dating back decades and filled their buckets with an astonishing 2875 pieces collected in total. Karen's comments: It was so exciting welcoming another Malvern district school on to the program and adding this school to the Worcestershire schools engagement list. I was welcomed with beautifully enthusiastic children that just engaged in such an positive way when cleaning up litter that others had dropped in their community. Well done to all the pupils and teachers at Welland you did your community proud. Malvern District council are funding the litter workshops 100% free to their schools as part of their Anti-litter campaign.

Let’s give a huge shout out to the pupils of Upton Snodsbury CofE First School who yesterday took part in three litter workshops clearing up their school and community areas. The pupils were an absolute credit to their school teachers removing 1058 pieces of litter from the environment. Their oldest litter piece was dated 2013 just wow. Well done children you have protected animals from being hurt by litter and made your community areas sparkle. Karen's Comments: This is my forth visit to Upton Snodsbury first school and it's like going home as the children are always excited for their litter hunting workshops. Finding litter still that is decades old, bring items out of the environment year after year shows there is always more to be hunted out. The pupils have got it down to a tea though shocking me even more at their determination and passion to keep Britain tidy is lovely to witness.

24th Feb 2025 visit A huge shout out to the pupils of Holy Redeemer Catholic Primary School because today they smashed it at litter picking their community spaces. The total amount picked was 3464 pieces of litter. The workshop finds in year 1 was litter dating back 13 years from the school’s perimeter. Year 3&4 found litter dating 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009. Karen's comment "Well done children such a great effort all around, I have never seen so much litter come out of one community hedgerow". Wychavon sponsor the litter picking workshop to all their district schools. Shaping future behaviours is a must ensuring these children grow to respect their community environment.

Leigh & Bransford Primary School. Year 4 worked towards their environment topic with a short classroom show and tell rubbish talk followed by a big school clean litter pick. The pupils were an absolute pleasure to teach and their enthusiasm to the litter hunt ensured 1386 pieces of litter was removed from their school site. With the oldest piece dating back 8 years. The pupils showed fantastic knowledge about how they could all contribute to looking after their community and how we can all help to keep wildlife habitats safe. A huge well done to all the children from Leigh & Bransford Primary School. Teacher comments: "Karen was engaging and knowledgeable about all things litter. She delivered an interesting workshop, where the children got to safely handle the litter she had found with previous school children and with her family. There were pieces of litter which were over 50 years old, clearly emphasising that our plastic wrappers don't rot away. The class loved getting out with the litter pickers and collected 1386 pieces! Thank you Karen, you have inspired Year 4 to keep our school and community tidy!" Malvern Hills District Council are funding their districts schools the little litter warriors for 2025. It was a huge success yesterday as we welcomed our first Malvern school onto our #antilittercampaign

11th February 2025 Hugely proud to be Keep Britain Tidy's litter heroes ambassador to be recognised for special Contribution to 2024 #Bigschoolclean #gbspringclean campaign today at the Houses of Parliament. This was awarded for my work with the education sector achievements in schools and community groups. Huge thanks to Wychavon, Wychavon schools and Wyre Forest Scouts for joining the campaign.

Little litter warriors went international today. I was invited to talk the pupils at International Maarif Schools - Erbil school in Iraq about littering. Pupils engaged in the understanding of why litter/waste is endangering our planet. What as community leaders we can do to help clean it up and how they can encourage others to help #savetheplanet too. The pupils asked some fantastic questions and are planning a presentation project in their school to highlight what they have learnt. I asked about their countries waste management systems to learn that there is no system in place there, their rivers/communities are full of litter/waste. I recommended that they research their countries facilities, right letters to powerful partners that could help them with waste management. I cannot wait to hear of their progress in inspiring others to care and how they get on with some support to help them clean up. #inthistogether #planetfirst #Education

Let’s give a huge shout out to the pupils at Bredon Hancocks CE First school where today 140 pupils completed 4 litter workshops in their community. Over 2000 pieces of litter was collected all together with litter dating back to 1920’s class bottle, 2001 beer can, 2009 sweet wrapper, 2016 crisp packet and 2017 food wrap right up to the present time. The children were an absolute pleasure to teach and a credit to their school. Their determination and enthusiasm towards the subject of protecting our community spaces showed especially litter picking in the cold start of the February day. Well done to all the pupils today. Wychavon Keep Britain Tidy #tewkesbury School said Visit from Little Litter Warriors (February 2025) Karen from Little Litter Warriors came to school to work with ALL the pupils. Together the reception and KS1 children worked to ensure our school grounds were litter-free. Year 3 and 4 children took a chilly, foggy walk up to Bredon's playing fields, where they found a staggering 1200 pieces of litter along the footpaths and around the hedgerows. Year 5 then visited the churchyard to litter pick, and found a glass bottle which was around 107 years old! Karen showed us all kinds of vintage litter and talked to us about how long different items take to biodegrade in our environment. Read more from the school website about how the children got on https://www.bredonhancocks-worcs.co.uk/eco-team/

To read more about my visit and see the amazing results of each classes clean up through pictures taken on each litter pick visit the school newsletter here dated June 14th - https://www.hindlipfirst.worcs.sch.uk/newsletters#49-summer Hindip First school in Droitwich - this year was the schools first year joining in the districts anti-litter campaign with the Wychavon initiative. We started their day with the "Our Planet" assembly presentation and after each class took part in the litter workshops. Each workshop has a show and tell story of plastic pollution with plastic waste from our beaches and coastline here in the UK been shown. The children also see littered waste from inland community areas where the children can see a fundamental difference in each piece of litter. Most of the litter shown in the show and tell has remained in the environment for decades this highlighting the materials durability teaching the pupils about sustainably materials through looking at evidence from beach and inland litter picks.