Collaborating for school tree planting at the start of National Tree Week in November 2019
Four organisations are working together to enable school children to plant trees for a new community heritage orchard and osier willow plantation in Ketton, Rutland. This is a collaborative project with Ketton C of E Primary School, the Royal Forestry Society Teaching Trees programme, Nene Park Trust and Stamford Community Orchard Group. Together we thought that, as it was National Tree Week in November, this could be linked to Living Things and their Habitats – one of the areas covered in the science curriculum. The children will be planting some local heritage variety apple trees and osier willow setts on the floodbank of the river Chater. As well as being part of the Big Climate Fight Back, the children will be able to make direct use of the trees they plant – they will use the willow in future art projects, and of course eat the apples!
As Ketton C of E Primary School teacher said "It will provides a real reason for writing. In literacy Year 3 children are writing a report on trees and climate change for Chatterbox, the local newsletter." The planting will also give us a chance to explain the links between fruit trees, food and climate change, as well as willow trees, flood protection and climate change.
Nene Park Trust allowed us to cut the willow in order to make willow stakes that the children could hammer into the wet ground by the local river. Stamford Community Orchard Group allowed us to have some of the very local Stamford variety of apples with names like Schoolmaster – would you believe! Adam Cade, Chairman of SCOG said "So we are doing this as part of the Woodlands Trust Big Climate Fightback because it's a chance to work with a few other organisations to help young school children see the vital links between trees, fruit, flooding and climate change."
As Jemma Cuthbert from the Royal Forestry Society said “RFS Teaching Trees is delighted to be part of this community collaboration. We think it is vital to plant trees as one part of combating climate change, and to help the next generation learn about the importance of trees. As part of the project, the children will also be visiting a local woodland on Buckminster Estate, one of our RFS partners, where they’ll learn more about the importance of the woodland habitat in a Teaching Trees session.”
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