On Friday 21st January, St Laurence CofE Academy held a planting party on their field. They were very lucky to have been gifted 250 trees and scrubs by I Dig Trees with OVO Energy, as part of their larger project for tree planting targets for climate, wildlife and communities! St Laurence was part of their plan to have 2 million trees in the ground by the end of this tree planting season.

As a school, St Laurence has been developing their outdoor Forest School provision and decided to use the majority of the trees to develop their outdoor nature area next to their already established pond and outdoor classroom. Mr Spencer, Forest School Co-ordinator and Mrs Mountjoy Geography/Eco Warrior lead researched which trees could be planted, marked out the area that the trees were to fill and planned the tree planting event.

But planting 250 trees is a big feat so the children and their parents/carers were invited in on Friday afternoon, given a tree to plant and a name tag to commemorate their part in this massive endeavour.

In just over 40 minutes, all 250 trees had been planted. A year 3 parent said, ‘It was great to be able to come and plant something with my child that will be here for years to come.’

Ms Graham, Headteacher said ‘What an amazing sight as a great crowd of St. Laurence parents and families headed across the school field armed with spades and wellies! Our children were very excited to plant a tree that will grow and flourish for many years to come. Although the trees will take time to become established, our Forest School is starting to take shape for our lucky pupils already!