EXASPERATED residents are collecting piles of rubbish left by pupils and dumping them back inside their school.

People living near Shoeburyness High School say they have become so fed up with rubbish left in the streets and gardens around the school, they are taking matters into their own hands.

Caulfield Road resident Arnold Baker, 79, said: “The situation is ridiculous now. I didn’t want to fall out with the school but they aren’t doing anything about it.

“I go and clear it up but it just doesn’t stop. It’s terrible but it continues despite making complaints to the council and the school.”

Mr Baker said he had taken handfuls of drink cans, bottles, and chip containers with chips to the school reception desk.

He added: “The school has in the last few days had a master outside the school at lunchtime, without apparent result.

“They also tell me that they have been talking about this at assembly over the last weeks but there has been no reduction of litter.

“I’ve lived here for more than four years but I’ve seen it gradually get worse over the last 18 months.

“It’s so bad we get seagulls coming here every lunchtime to feed on discarded chips.

Something has to be done to educate these children. We just collect bags full of rubbish and deliver it to the school.

“People round here are really fed up with it.”

Diason, Page, 36, who also lives in Caulfield Road, also admitted to gathering up the rubbish and chucking it into the school grounds.

He said: “When you live next to a school you expect a bit of litter and I’ve made a couple of complaints in the past, but in the last six months it has got a lot worse. It has got more and more blatant. I see them dump pizza boxes and cans like it was nothing and they obviously think someone else is going to pick it up for them.

“It all ends up in people’s front garden. They could put a little patrol of pupils together to go out and pick it up, but nothing is done. Any rubbish I find in my garden I put over the fence into the school.”

Mark Schofield, headteacher, said: “We have had a complaint from Mr Baker and we have responded by reminding students not to drop litter.

“Two members of staff visited Mr Baker and we have had staff out daily in that part of Caulfield Road to make sure there was no litter being dropped and reminding students not to drop litter.

“It is not just down to students.

There is a skip in the road at the moment and rubbish men come round and bags get broken.”

Councillor disappointed with pupils' behaviour

MARTIN Terry, councillor responsible for waste, said it was disappointing pupils were behaving in this way.

He said: “We work hard with our street cleansing contractor to reduce litter across the borough with regular cleansing patrols, so I am very concerned to hear stories of school children flagrantly dropping litter outside of their school.

“This is clearly having a detrimental impact on the cleanliness of the area and on local people.

“We have received four reports from Mr Arnold in the last three weeks, all of which have been followed up by action.

“Our environmental care officers spoke to the school, who are aware of the issue and undertake education around this for their pupils.

“They also send out a cleaning crew each lunchtime to clear the littering. In addition to this, the area is also now being monitored by our environmental care officers and contractors.

Ultimately it is very disappointing that children would act in this manner, showing such disregard for the local area and local residents.

“I hope the school continues its work in this area and has success in trying