Planting day at Milton Mount Primary, Crawley
March 2013
Crawley school, Milton Mount Primary, was visited by representatives of property company Land Securities to help plant trees in the school grounds. Pupils, staff and representatives of Land Securities will help to plant the saplings as part of a new hedgerow. The trees are all native British species such as Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Field Maple, Bird Cherry, Spindle and Elder, all grown in England from collected seed.
“I thought the tree planting was very good because I like digging and getting muddy.” Harry Bagshaw, year 5, Willow class
Milton Mount is a Community school for children aged between 4 and 11 years old. A guiding principle of the school is that children learn most effectively through active participation in the learning process so that they build their knowledge through understanding. The children had an opportunity to gain hands-on experience of how trees are planted and to learn how important trees are to the world in which we live. The new hedgerows being planted will provide a perfect habitat for wildlife, promoting biodiversity and preserving the natural environment.
Land Securities have teamed up with Carbon Footprint as part of their carbon management programme and with Tree Appeal, planting native broadleaf trees in schools. Land Securities are sponsoring the planting of 240 trees at Milton Mount Primary, demonstrating their commitment to environmental education and their aim of reducing their impact on the natural world. This is one of several plantings sponsored by Land Securities who have planted more than 1600 trees in UK schools this year.
“The tree planting was a wonderful experience that I’ll never forget. It’s amazing to see how small saplings can grow into humongous trees that effect our environment.” Aleya, year 5, Willow class
Mark Bird, Senior Project Manager at Land Securities, who attended the event and planted trees with the pupils, said, “It was a really fun morning for all involved – the children were very eager to learn about the sustainability elements and get down to the hard work of planting the trees. It was great to give something back to the local community given our on-going regeneration project in Crawley town centre. Our tree planting partners taught us some interesting facts about the saplings including that they will have grown taller than the pupils by the end of the year! It will be great for the children to move up through the school and watch the trees in the hedge they have planted grow at the same time.”
