WELLIES were the order of the day for Ludgershall primary school Wellington Eagles, as pupils planted the first 200 trees in the pouring rain with the help of the local military as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy Initiative to tackle climate change.
Their sister school in Tidworth, Wellington Lions, planted a further 210 trees the following week.
Local military were on hand to help children at both schools plant the trees which were provided by the Woodland Trust in association with the Queens Platinum Jubilee scheme. Staff distributed saplings to volunteers to ensure a wide variety of different specimens were planted.
Michelle Clark, Forest School Leader for both primaries, said: “We are linking it to the Queens Green canopy initiative, a fascinating fact, the Queen has planted over 1500 trees during her reign! 410 trees are to be planted over the two schools. Lions Primary is an ongoing development of the forest school whereas at Eagles we have only just started to develop the area and have a log circle in place, we’re getting palettes, cable reels, mud kitchens and so on so the children can start coming out. These trees will really help to screen the school boundaries.”
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Mr Butchers, who leads outdoor learning at the Eagles, added: “It’s a new school and a new estate so there isn’t a lot of ground cover. The idea is to start building up the forest school and have a well-developed area including a fire pit and chalk board.
"Aside from the usual educational bit it’s also a lot more inclusive of children that have behavioural needs or challenging home lives, and you can get really practical and hands on with the world around you. Having some time and experience outside will help these children have a more positive outlook."
Major Andy Bishop, one of the Squadron leaders at the Queen’s Royal Hussar,s was on hand to plant the first tree with Squadron Sergeant Major Kieron Jones and Sergeant /Governor Leo Ramsay among those helping out. Cllr Catherine Allan of Lauderhill Town Council was also in attendance to offer her support on the very wet afternoon.
After planting the first tree, Major Andy Bishop said: “I think it’s really good for community engagement. We moved from Germany in 2019 where community engagement was a lot bigger as we had the British aspect, to the local area where community engagement, especially from the Queen’s Royal Hussars point of view, is always good to get involved and put our seal on the area and help schools, scouts and all those extracurricular activities. It also gives the children the opportunity to see us in green kit and get muddy with us as you can see. They look as though they are enjoying themselves getting hands on and that’s really what kids need to do.”
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Amber in Year 5 added: “I have planted two trees so far. It’s not easy with all the water, I’m a bit muddy but I like the rain so I’m happy. I’m looking forward to the forest school growing so that I can learn about the forest and how to help the trees. We might also be doing some crafts like building bird houses.”
Executive head of both primaries, Claire Addis, said: “We have based our curriculum around ‘The Curious Child’ and we are passionate about providing our children with enriching and exciting experiences. We actively encourage our children to be enthusiastic, resilient, collaborative and aspirational and believe that this supports them on their path to becoming life-long learners.”
The Queen’s Green Canopy project is a unique tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 and invites people from across the United Kingdom to plant their own trees to celebrate this historic milestone.
Anyone wishing to get involved in The Queen's Green Canopy is encouraged to plant trees during the tree planting season, which runs until the end of March and starts again in October, for more information, visit queensgreencanopy.org.
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