This month, Dartington Church of England Primary School and Nursery, are taking part in a huge tree-planting initiative, organised by BBC Countryfile.
The aim of the initiative is to plant 750,000 new trees across the UK, one for every Reception child in the UK. The initiative’s motto is ‘together we plant’ – an ethos beautifully linked to the school’s vision of ‘together we grow, together we flourish’.
All of the children across Dartington Primary and Nursery have had the opportunity to plant new trees in the school grounds. These are then logged on the BBC Countryfile website to help pupils see the collective difference they have made. In Devon now there have been a collective of around 6,574 trees planted, with 364,347 planted in total across the UK.
At Dartington, the curriculum is unique and with the school’s Christian vision, ‘together we grow, together we flourish’, the children are offered weekly forest school sessions and several opportunities to take action against climate change. This initiative is a part of the great Plant Britain plan to battle against climate change – something the school were very keen to take part in.
The initiative received some lovely feedback from pupils, with one Dartington pupil explaining that “I like planting trees because they help us to play our part in making our world more beautiful.” And another adding: “We have all got to plant a tree and I think this is good because it helps to combat the deforestation that we have learnt about in Geography this term.”
Mrs Huish, Headteacher of Dartington Church of England Primary and Nursery, said:
“We were so pleased to be able to take part in this wonderful initiative with BBC Countryfile. Climate change is an important feature in our bespoke curriculum at Dartington.
“Our children are very passionate about looking after our precious earth and this is something we prioritise for them through subjects such as Science, Geography, and Forest School.”
Ms Hutchinson, Teacher at Dartington Church of England Primary and Nursery, said:
“Our children love to look for differences that they can make in the world and this is another opportunity for them to leave the positive footprints that we talk about at school each day.”
