A couple of years ago I retired from my job in the local primary school, Queen’s Park School. Sometimes I miss working there so I regularly return to continue with the tree-planting project. The project was put on the school curriculum, so the teachers have it as part of the term’s work. I must say that without the help of Poppy, who still works at the school, coordinating the project would be quite difficult.
The project itself is fun and quite straightforward; I arrive in the school with a box of acorns and this year horse chestnuts. I set up in an outdoor space known as the “secret garden”. I have topsoil, leaf mulch and a set of deep pots for planting trees. The children, from year three, come down in small groups and chose an acorn or nut to plant. We put the acorns in some water – if they are dense, they will sink to the bottom, and this means they are good to grow. We throw away the floaters. They get quite messy filling up the pots with the soil, which they all enjoy, and they place their acorn or nut in the pot. Finally, we put some leaf mulch on top.
The following year when the trees have grown, I bring them from my garden into the classroom for everyone to see. This year some of the children were more excited to see the bugs and spiders that lived on the tiny trees than the trees themselves! Finally, Poppy and I plan to take the year six class to plant the trees out in the secondary school they are about to move up to.
This is such important, valuable work, to have the children identify with ‘their’ trees, so as to grow with them and monitor all the changes happening…to child and tree.
Thank you for your commitment at this time of ecological ignorance and climate denial. No trees, no protection from intensifying heat, no precious rain, no air to breathe…no habitats for insects and songbirds.