|
LITTLE
GREEN SPACE
News
release
For immediate
release:
Friday 7th January 2011
Planters
and trees for children at Castle
View
School
Transition Matlock and Little Green Space have
launched a project with Matlock’s
Castle
View
Primary
School
to make the
school grounds greener – with benefits for the pupils, the environment
and wildlife.
A team of volunteers from the groups recently spent a day at the school,
constructing large wooden planters for the playground, which will allow
the children to grow vegetables and plants to attract pollinators such as
bees and butterflies.
The groups have also provided 150 native broad-leaved trees so that every
pupil can have their own tree. The children are planting the trees in
personally-decorated pots. Eventually they will be replanted in the school
grounds to create a small woodland.
Each tree will provide a home to literally thousands of animals and
insects, while also soaking up carbon dioxide, providing shade for the
children in the summer and creating outdoor learning opportunities.
The project has already received some generous support, with sustainable
compost manufactured from green waste and stone chippings for the planters
donated by Vital Earth of Longcliffe; liners for the planters by Twiggs;
pots by the National Trust; free trees by the Woodland Trust; and tree
labels by Lorna Cross Nurseries in Tansley.
Little Green Space has also received a Derbyshire County Council
Greenwatch Action Grant, which will fund the creation of an orchard at the
school. The Greenwatch grant will also fund the creation of bee and
butterfly gardens at Matlock's All Saints'
Junior
School
and All Saints’
Infants
School
.
Following discussions with Castle View Head Teacher Peter Hooper and the
school’s Parents and Friends Association, the groups hope to work with
staff, parents and carers to create more green features, such as an
orchard, wildflower planting and a kitchen garden.
Studies show that access to green spaces is good for children’s mental
and physical health. The project will also strengthen outdoor learning
opportunities and support the National Curriculum.
For more information please visit www.transitionmatlock.org.uk
and www.littlegreenspace.org.uk.
/ Ends
|
