The Mall Nursery and Creche in Luton have been completing wonderful environmental projects with their children. Focusing on the topic, ‘New Life, Plants and Insects’ children made bees and sunflowers using recycled materials, whilst discussing the important role bees play in sustaining all life on our planet. Children learnt that bees carry pollen to lots of different plants, helping new plants to grow. Then the fantastic Eco-Coordinator and staff members at the nursery, contacted management at the shopping centre they are based in, who agreed to fund and place beehives on the roof. Now the Eco-Committee regularly talk to their beekeeping friend who tells them what plants they should grow in nursery to help his bees help the world.

The Eco-Committee of practitioners and children at Greengables decided that the Biodiversity topic should be included in their Action Plan, with a particular focus on planting to improve their immediate environment.
First the Eco-Committee researched which herbs, vegetables and plants would be particularly enticing to butterflies and bees! They then learned about the best conditions to ensure their growth and survival, before finally planting in their raised beds!
The children loved the entire experience – seeing insect visitors, monitoring changes to the plants as they grew and even harvesting vegetables. This project has given children a sense of pride in their nursery and themselves, and has aided their physical development whilst providing an understanding of the world… it even helped their math’s skills as children counted shovel loads of dirt removed and replaced during planting!

The Eco-Council at Lutley Primary School carried out an evaluation of their school grounds as part of their Environmental Review, one of the areas that they felt needed improvement was their little Wildlife Garden and its pond. As a result, their wildlife team, ‘The Lutley Larks,’ spent an afternoon clearing the garden of litter and dead vegetation. At the same time, they created some desirable homes for the many frogs that have been spotted in the pond. There are clay ‘Frogitats’ that you can buy, but the team decided to research ways to make their own out of broken clay plant pots (they also decided this was a good way to reuse items for the Eco-Schools Waste topic). They lined and covered the broken clay pots with dead leaves and moss to make a perfect home for frogs. They later discovered that lots of frogspawn had been laid in the pond, so they hope that many frogs will take advantage of their new abodes!

The wildlife area in the school grounds at Woodfield Primary supports and enhances their curriculum throughout the year. They use the area as an alternative teaching space which contributes towards a healthy lifestyle for all those involved. The children love using the area as it gives them the opportunity to learn outside the classroom, engage with and understand nature. It also supports their mental health and well being. Their greenhouse, which was built by parent volunteers with plastic bottles supplied by the children, is used to grow plants for the wildlife area. This has helped to bring the school community together and given all involved a sense of pride, belonging and investment.

Children at Penshurst Primary School in Hessle decided to create a sensory area on their school field. This area intends to provide a calm and relaxing outdoor area for pupils, whilst also benefitting local wildlife. Using recycled materials (including old car tyres) flowers, herbs, vegetables and a gooseberry tree have been planted. This benefits both pupils and insects by providing lots of different sights, smells, touches and tastes to help them relax. Now, children at Penshurst are busy learning how to care for their plants and insect visitors. They have even decided to create a bug hotel, tadpole pond (see picture) and bird tables to encourage even more wildlife to enjoy their sensory area. Creating the sensory area was hard work, but both children and staff enjoyed every minute of it!

Pictured is the largest insect hotel in the world. Pupils of De La Salle and teacher Kieron decided to create a bug hotel in June 2019 as part of their Eco-Schools work. After researching bug hotels, they found out that the largest in the world was relatively nearby in Martine Mere nature reserve and measured in at 19 metres. They knew it would be a challenge to build bigger, but it could be done! Enlisting the help of their wider community (Step 5: Informing and Involving) they collected donations from parents, friends, local businesses and the council before beginning construction. In July 2020, their insect hotel was officially crowned the largest in the world by Guinness World Records.

GoalCo (The Golborne and Lowton Cooperative Learning Partnership Trust) is an education co-operative. On the Golborne High School Site, they created a wetland area on the site of an old hockey pitch as they wanted to attract wildlife in this disused space. They worked with a local company, who wanted to give something back to the community, who had agreed to help create the Wetland Area. With advice and inspiration from Wigan’s Healthy Lifestyles team and their Biodiversity Manager, the local company dug out the old hockey pitch and created a base for a hide. With money from the Wigan Deal and Brighter Borough Funding, GoalCo has also been able to secure a learning outdoor resource: a mobile classroom/hide where community groups can go to watch nature. Classes at Golborne love the area and so does their local community. Recently paths have been installed, meaning the area is now entirely accessible to all. Events that have taken place are pond dipping, den building, bug hotel creating and nature art lessons as well as (of course) nature watching.