Pupils support Upstream Battle® with £680 donation

St Clement’s RC Primary School have made a generous donation of £680 towards our Upstream Battle® campaign, following a sponsored walk over the River Tay from Newport-on-Tay to Dundee City Centre.

Pupils from the Dundee school's Primary 5 class were inspired to raise awareness and take action after learning that 80% of marine litter comes from land and so to tackle marine litter we must stop litter's journey from source to sea, by preventing it entering watercourses and threatening wildlife.

"I enjoyed walking across the bridge thinking about all the animals below in the water because there are so many cool species and I want to help protect them." – Karen, P5

"I was really having lots of fun taking plastic from off the beach so it won't go in the sea and kill the animals." - Payton, P5

Following their sponsored walk, the class organised a litter pick on Broughty Ferry beach, where they removed an array of plastic items including a dummy and children’s toys. The pupils donated these objects to the V&A Museum, to be part of an artificial beach within the ‘Plastics: Re-making Our World’ exhibition. Gary Jamieson, Schools Development Officer at the V&A, describes how this engagement with pupils was fundamental.

“During the run of ‘Plastics: Re-Making Our World’ over 2,500 young people visited the exhibition, from schools across Scotland," Gary said. "The event provided a fantastic learning opportunity for the children to understand the impact of plastic on the environment and pupils were always really engaged in the displays. This was particularly true for the beach instillation, which formed an integral part of the exhibition.”

Our thanks also go to the V&A museum for suggesting that the kind donation from St Clement’s go to Keep Scotland Beautiful to support our Upstream Battle programme.

Claire Smith, the class teacher, said: “We chose to donate to Upstream Battle due to the fantastic work of Keep Scotland Beautiful. The V&A explained how involved you are in helping to reduce plastic and litter from the River Tay, through the Upstream Battle campaign, so we felt it was apt to walk across the River Tay to raise money and awareness of your charity.”

Barry Fisher, our Chief Executive, and Joe Oxley-Glenister, Upstream Battle Education and Learning Officer, met up with the Primary 5 class at the V&A Musuem to be presented with a giant cheque they had made especially for the occasion.

“We are so proud of the many links that we have with schools in Scotland, but we are particularly delighted that St Clement’s chose to donate to our charity following their sponsored walk," Barry said. "The pupils really understand the issues of litter in the damage it can have in the local environment. Donations such as this, from organisations and individuals are vital for supporting our work to Clean Up communities across the country.”

The Plastics – Re-Making Our World exhibition has now been replaced by an equally inspiring Tartan exhibition, however a virtual tour of the Plastics exhibition can be accessed online.

You can donate to help us keep Scotland beautiful too. Our work inspires action to combat climate change, tackle litter and waste, restore nature and biodiversity and improve places we all care about. Find out how to fundraise for us or make a donation at Get Involved.