Put Dog Poo in the Bin – Ardnahoe Nursery School | Scotland's Enterprising Schools

Name of School/Project

Ardnahoe Nursery School – Put Dog Poo in the Bin

Key Facts

Ardnahoe Nursery School is set in a leafy area of Toryglen, Glasgow. It provides early education for three to five year olds in the Glasgow area. The fantastic grounds are well looked after by children, parents and staff.

As part of our Eco Schools work, the children carried out a litter survey of our school grounds which resulted in finding no litter or refuse. We adopted two streets leading to the two entrances of the School to provide the opportunity to examine the impact of litter on our community through regular litter picks.

Some children had previously worked with Community Safety Glasgow in June 2015 to help litter pick Molls Myre, a Community Woodland area in Toryglen. We contacted Community Safety Glasgow to enlist their help litter picking in the neighbourhood and were provided with high visibility jackets and litter picking sticks both adult and child sized.

How it developed

During a litter pick, the children started to warn each other of dog poo on the pavements. They counted eleven dog poos on the pavements they use to walk to nursery. The children used a camera to record the litter and dog poo.

The children were able to state what people should do with dog poo. ‘Pick it up with a bag and put it in the bin’. While there was one bin at one entrance of the School, there was no bin at the second entrance to the School. The children knew that if there was no bin, litter can be put in a pocket and then put in a bin as dog poo needs to go in a bin. The children suggested that they could make signs to tell people what to do with their litter and get a bin for people to put their dog poos in.

What pupils gained and how effective the project was

With the help of an adult the children made signs by:

Uploading and printing the litter and dog poo photographs
Cutting and sticking their photographs of litter and dog poos on to paper
Deciding on what the signs will tell people
Writing instructions for dog owners
Using the photocopier to enlarge the signs
Using the laminate to protect their signs
Helped make a telephone call to Glasgow City Council’s Clean Glasgow to request a bin
Displayed signs outside the school grounds

Technology – use of different resources to gather information and produce signs, use of tools and equipment to display information and resources to contact services out with the school

Literacy – Deciding on information and writing instructions

Health and Wellbeing – making a positive change in the wider community and observing hygiene procedures

Sciences – discussion of impact of litter and dog poo on their community

Maths – recording and displaying information and counting dog poos

Social Studies – finding out who can help us

The children’s signs are displayed around the perimeter railings of the School.

Glasgow City Council provided Bag It and Bin It signs on lamp posts leading to the Nursery School.

Glasgow City Council provided and also manages a bin at the second entrance to the Nursery.

The children continue to litter pick the two streets leading to the nursery.

Is it sustainable?

We will look to source funding to improve the fabric of the children’s signs.

The litter picking of the community is now part of our regular outdoor learning programme.

What costs did you incur?

As resources involved are already part of daily practice or on loan, no costs were incurred.

Did you involve other partners?

Community Safety Glasgow

Glasgow City Council

What support did you get?

The high visibility vests and litter pickers are provided free of charge by Community Safety Glasgow for as long at the Nursery continues to litter pick in the Community.

The bin was provided by Glasgow City Council by contacting Clean Glasgow using the telephone number listed on the web site.

Any other useful information

As litter picking and outdoor play are regular features of our practice, children are aware of hygienic and safe practices such as hand washing, protective clothing, care with litter pickers and adult handling of unsafe litter and sharps.