‘Dr Jane Goodall Orchard’- 90th Birthday Celebration

Students’ at Edenderry Primary School have honoured Dr Jane Goodall, renowned ethologist and advocate for UN SDG Climate Action, with the planting of an Orchard in their school grounds.

The trees were provided by the National Tree Council and included species’ of Pear, Apple and Plum trees.

As part of Edenderry’s continued development of their Forest Schools programme spearheaded by teachers Mrs McGregor and Mrs Hewitt the P6 students planted the Orchard in honour of Dr. Jane Goodall beside the ‘Wild Flower Meadow’ and the Erasmus programmes ‘Living Maze.’

P6 Teacher Mr Smith said, ‘Honouring Dr Jane Goodall’s 90 birthday is very apt for our school as we have had direct webinars with Dr Goodall in promoting international initiatives relating to the UN SDGs in the past. Our school has also received a Silver Award from Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots programme for exceptional international collaboration with NASA and GLOBE when measuring local trees and their carbon retention using Clinometers.’

This latest initiative that we will name the ‘Jane Goodall Orchard’ integrates beautifully with our World Around Us studies, whereby the release of our classroom butterflies in the summer term will help both our Wild Flower Meadow and now our Jane Goodall Orchard to cross pollinate and help in the production of fruit.

 Our P6 students study the inter- connectiveness of bio spheres and food -chains and how the concept of ‘Inter-dependence’ in nature also applies to our International collaboration studies.

Modern 21st Century skills demand that students are able to Collaborate, Communicate, be Creative and are involved in Critical Thinking.

Dr Jane Goodall has been a catalyst for us in Edenderry Primary to achieve these skills, and as such, we honour her with the naming of our Orchard and of course Edenderry wish her a very Happy 90th Birthday.

*We were even featured in the local paper!