The ‘Green Tree Schools Award’ as organised by the Woodland Trust, encourages schools to take part in environmental projects. The ‘Green Tree Schools Award’ inspires children to learn about their own environment and how it impacts the local wildlife. It supports learning in the classroom or in extracurricular clubs.

Here are the activities that our Year 1 class completed to achieve this gold award:

The children took part in a ‘Shakespeare Challenge’, which were a selection of activities based around ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. The children acted out the story whilst looking for trees, flowers and plants that were mentioned.

The children took part in an assembly where they watched a reading the illustrated story ‘The Man Who Planted Trees’. The story explained how one man revived an entire landscape by planting hundreds of acorns which grew into trees. This brought back wildlife and fertility to the land. The message behind this activity was to show how important trees are to the whole planet.

In the following activity, the children had the opportunity to plant a sapling in one of their weekly outdoor learning sessions. They discussed how it would need to be looked after and how it would grow. They also discussed how these new trees will help the local wildlife with shelter, shade, habitat and food. The children also learnt that these new trees would provide a source for pollinators in the spring.

Another activity was exploring nature from different viewpoints. The children observed trees from underneath, examining them in different seasons and identifying what wildlife they support. The children also climbed the trees to examine another perspective. They further looked at a bird’s eye view of the school, using aerial maps. On the ground, they used magnifying glasses to examine insects, their habitat such as grass, fungi and flowers.

Year 1 then chose their favourite tree and decorated it with bunting, garlands and decorations. The children then had a ‘Tree Party’ to celebrate the end of term. They had previously collected natural materials which they used to make party crowns and their music teacher led them in songs as part of this celebration.

As you can see, our Year 1 class have been involved in so many activities and have had a lot of fun! We are very proud of this achievement and the considerate learning about the environment which has taken place to achieve this prestigious award.

You can find out more about The Woodland Trust here: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/

Here are some more details about 'The Green Tree School Award': https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/support-us/act/your-school/green-tree-schools-award/

- Written by Emily Jennings