Children at Treehouse Nursery School Cambridge Park have been very excited about sharing their latest project with the Eco-Schools Team. Children on the Eco-Committee had been inspired by living walls and decided that they would like to create their own. They decided to plant beans, tomatoes, and mint and intertwined each plant along a carefully chosen wall to encourage the plants to grow and cover the wall. Children took a lead on nurturing their living wall and after much looking after, watering, sunlight, and rain the children now have their very own tomato, green bean, and mint plants flourishing – produce has already been collected and used in their weekly cooking activities!

Highfield and Brookham Schools are huge advocates of a greener and more sustainable way of life, aiming to be fully carbon neutral by 2030. This year, they have been helped with their quest through a £4,250 grant from the South Downs National Park as part of its Bee Lines scheme. The Bee Lines scheme aims to protect, nurture, and support our country’s busy pollinators. Their grant will be used to extend the work of pupils at Highfield and Brookham who have already sowed wildflower seeds across their site to mark Earth Day. Now, with the aid of their site manager they will be using a rotavator to sow 15 kg of wildflower seed on their site – enough to cover more than 6,500 m2 of land and support many, many pollinators!

Year 3 children in Laxton Junior School noticed that their school grounds in summer had few wildflowers to attract pollinators and so they wrote a letter to the Laxton Junior Eco-Team to see what could be done. The Eco Team agreed with Year 3 and got in touch with Mr. Tebbs, the Head Groundsman at school, to see if a wildflower meadow could be planted. Mr. Tebbs was delighted that the children had contacted him and came to speak with the Eco-Team and the Year 3 children about the importance of wildflowers to biodiversity. Together they explored the school grounds to look at options for where wildflowers could be planted, and the children were able to choose the wildflower mix that would benefit local wildlife the most. Over the summer holiday, the 200m border of the sports field was prepared by Mr. Tebbs and his team, and then, in September, each class was invited to go out to sow wildflower seeds in their allocated area. The children sowed a mixture of cornflowers, corn cockles, poppies, yellow rattle and field scabious which burst into life in May! This project was a huge success and involved the whole school!

As part of their ongoing commitment to be an Eco-School Carleton Green Community Primary School chose to work on the School Grounds topic. Their Eco-Committee completed the Environmental Review and then discussed it at their next meeting, with a particular focus on how they could improve their grounds and allow nature to flourish with minimal input. It was decided that their next project would be to create a hedgerow and connect it to the existing one. The Eco-Committee applied to the Woodland Trust for saplings, which were then planted along the school outer fence line. This activity was completed by all pupils in their outdoor learning sessions over just a few weeks.

Next, an area of their grounds, where an established older tree was uprooted in strong winds, was turned into a hedgehog retreat using the trunk and various branches. Pupils and staff at Carleton Green have since been delighted to find evidence that a hedgehog has been using their retreat, so as part of their learning put fresh water and hedgehog food around, to encourage the hedgehog to stay. Earlier this year they also had another larger tree on the school field that was deemed unsafe due wind damage, so the tree was cut down and the tree trunk used for seating within their outdoor learning garden, weather permitting this area can now be used for learning and observing the various habitats that have been created within their garden.

On top of this, Carleton Green also participated in No Mow May. The Eco-Committee discussed with the school office the areas that they wanted to be left wild within their grounds, and an agreement was made that these areas wouldn’t be mowed until Autumn, allowing wildflowers to grow and thus creating various habitats and ecosystems within their school. Since the agreement was made, these areas have evolved, and so many more crickets, grasshoppers, butterflies, dragonflies, and bees have been spotted. Bees have been particulary supported with the introduction of a nesting box for solitary bees, since installation, leafcutter bees have been found to be using it and 5 cells which have been used for the first time!

Finally, Carleton Green is committed to creating a sensory classroom in their grounds, which will be used by full classes for learning and will reduce usage of electricity throughout their school (Energy Topic). This particular area is also going to provide an area for reading and relaxation during break and lunchtimes. Whilst this area is in the very early stages of development, Year 5 pupils have already researched what materials will be needed to zone off the area, and provide seating – they have even put their maths and computer skills to the test, measuring the area and researching plants that appeal to different senses.

PTFA and staff volunteers at Ayscoughfee Hall School have been busy at the weekends creating their school garden, which stemmed from designs created by the Eco-Club. Many year groups were involved in the design, it was then approved by School Council and SLT, before being finalised by one of their PTFA members using a CAD programme. The Eco-Club decided raised beds were a necessity for all children to access the area, and they also were passionate about including an archway, a polytunnel and some kind of water feature. A bog garden was the final idea and creating this will form part of next year’s Eco-Schools Action Plan.  Following the creation of their School Garden, pupils at Ayscoughfee Hall School have already begun harvesting cucumbers, courgettes and tomatoes planted by the Eco-Club to use in cookery lessons and they even sold surplus plants after school and at their annual summer fair. Pupils and staff are all loving the Eco Journey taking place in their school!

The Green Team At St Nicolas wanted to make their school a better place for wildlife, so they replanted the area around our tiny school pond and also created a stumpery habitat in a small, unused space next to some steps. The children cleared the ground, carried and arranged logs, planted shade-loving plants and spread bark chippings to make it attractive to wildlife and people!

They were also concerned about litter and waste, so made signs for the lunch tables to remind children not to drop food on the floor and with a donation  of a sentry-box shed from a local shopping centre, and they also created a ‘Little Free Library’ book swap outside the office, so books could be shared and enjoyed once read.

The children (in Year 1) loved finding ways they could make a real difference in the world and have been empowered by this to seek further action on all sorts of issues, from poverty to disabled accessibility!

As part of their School Grounds topic work, the Eco-Committee and Eco-Coordinator at Penshurst decided to take advantage of the many schemes offering free trees for schools. They contacted the Woodland Trust, the Queen’s Green Canopy, the Tree Council and their local MP – who all donated trees to plant within their school grounds, including a stunning Japanese Cherry Blossom tree donated through an initiative their MP is part of. All trees have now been planted and are being cared for by pupils at Penshurst… in fact the Eco-Committee have even decided to sign up to the Young Tree Council and are now awaiting new tree arrivals!

A pupil at Birchwood noticed that their parents would buy fresh herbs (wrapped in plastic), from the supermarket each week to cook dinner with. Often their parents only used a small amount of the herbs before the plastic wrapping ended up in general waste and the remaining herbs were composted: not great for the environment or the wallet! They decided to bring the problem to their next Eco-Committee meeting to discuss. The Committee decided to grow their own Community Herb Garden. They asked for donations from a local herb grower and used money raised from their farmers market to fund the project. The herb grower came and helped the head (student) gardeners at the school plant it up. The digital leaders took it one stage further and made QR codes for each variety of herb that links you to tasty recipes from the BBC Food Website. Parents and the wider community have been encouraged to come and help themselves!
“It is lovely seeing people out there with a list and scissors collecting their bouquet!”

As part of their connected curriculum, the Eco-Committee at Goldthorpe have created a bespoke outdoor education programme under the Eco-Schools umbrella. Their Eco-Schools programme is made up of five elements: Farm School, Gardening School, Survival School, Conservation School, Construction School.
As part of Gardening School they have been sowing seeds, nurturing the plants and harvesting the produce. Pupils grow a variety of fruits and vegetables and the children always take ownership – during their Eco-Sessions, they work on a variety of projects around the school’s allotment. The produce grown in school is used in school lunches – this is a very exciting part of gardening school that engages children in healthy eating and opens them up to trying new things that they wouldn’t necessarily have or try at home. Now Goldthorpe have also started to sell vegetable plants to parents and carers each morning as part of a new enterprise project. This encourages growing at home: engaging families beyond the school gate!

The Eco-Committee at Penshurst Primary School decided it was time to create an allotment on their school grounds. In true Eco-Schools style, they decided to do this using recycled materials: neglected raised beds have been given a new lease of life; ecobricks used to build the main 6 metres x 1 metre bed; and old tyres have been used as potato planters and seating. Year 6 children spent a really enjoyable afternoon working on the project, digging, tidying and planting – working really hard and volunteering to help further as they had so much fun!
The allotment area will teach all pupils how to grow vegetables, herbs and flowers, which they hope to taste themselves and sell via their Community Cafe. It will also provide pupils and staff with an area to relax and be mindful.
The Eco-Committee are especially thankful to a member of their schools’ Cleaning Staff who is an expert gardener and has been a valuable source of information and support – a great example of Eco-Schools work bringing a school community together (Step 5: Informing and Involving)!

Avonbourne Academies, Bournemouth, have recently been awarded Eco Schools with Distinction for a second year in a row, following their focus on improving their school grounds this academic year. The school’s Eco Committee, made up of students from seven year groups, have worked together to create a better outdoor environment for all. This year, they were awarded 15 saplings and 80 small hedge plants by The Woodland Trust which were planted across site. They have also gained free seeds and plants from local garden centres and the school’s PTA to build a tyre garden, made up of re-purposed old tyres from a local garage. The Eco-Committee also installed bird boxes in some of the older trees on site, in an effort to help support our local wildlife by providing a safe shelter for them. Finally, students from the school use their recycled face mask litter pickers to complete litter picks across the school grounds, keeping our environment clean and tidy for all to enjoy!