Roots & Shoots Eco Group Working Hard

Christmas and New Year's break seem a long time ago now and we have quickly got back into the swing of school life. Our Roots & Shoots Afterschool Club has started again and we have two mini projects on the go; improving our bird watching area with a 'Bird Cafe', and making hedgehog houses in a nice quiet area at the top of the field.  We are using natural materials on both projects and hope, when they are finished, these will encourage even more wildlife into our school. We have also been tidying up the pond area, removing some dead foliage from the water and the bank at the back in readiness for Spring growth. In addition to this, the children have been out to the wild-meadow area, tidying up and checking that all is well for all the wildlife we are lucky enough to share our school grounds with. A very kind adult volunteer handed over a bundle of freshly cut willow which we will be planting and adding to our willow shelter once the stems have rooted. We are hoping for some amazing photos once it starts sprouting in to life, plus some fantastic shade for the children once the Summer sun arrives.The Roots & Shoots Eco Group have also been busy running their 'Who is the Most Environmentally Friendly Class' competition. Not only do they think this would be a marvelous opportunity to push the importance of being more environmentally aware, but also to make it second-nature for everyone to be more considerate to our planet. They have been looking at how children travel to school, paper usage and waste in the classrooms and single use plastics brought into school. As well as this, they have started up the composting again, with mini  compost bins on the playground, and checked every classrooms for watering-cans so they can fill them with their unused drinking water at the end of the day. We will post our results at the start of next term.Finally, another exciting thing that is happening in the school is the arrival of chicken eggs. We have them in our library area, under our Roots & Shoots Display, so all the children can watch them hatch. We love it when they children can watch how amazing new life is; they couldn't stop talking about watching the frog spawn hatch in to tadpoles and then grow into tiny frogs. Fingers crossed we are as successful in hatching the chicks! This is so important for children to see, not only how wonderful life is, but how fragile it can also be.