Planting day at Caldecott Primary School, Abingdon
April 2009
Representatives from Vale, along with Professor Bellamy and the Tree Appeal team, visited Caldecott Primary School in Abingdon to lend a hand with the planting. The schools was chosen from a group of schools in the area who have received trees sponsored by Vale this year.
Vale was the first housing association in the UK to achieve international environmental management standard ISO14001 and they are now looking for new ways to contribute to the environment and the community. By planting trees in schools, Vale are not only creating wildlife habitat, promoting biodiversity and making a greener world, they are also providing outdoor learning resources for local school children, helping future generations to understand the natural world.
Steve Russell, Managing Director of Vale, said, “The Vale Housing Association has been committed to improving our local environment since 1998 when we were the first housing association to achieve ISO 14001 accreditation for our environmental work. We are delighted to have this opportunity to help highlight the value of the environment to our tenants’ children. We think that tree planting is an excellent way to engage them with the positive benefits of investing in and caring for the environment.”
Ken Whitley, Managing Director of Tree Appeal, said, “It is the commitment and enthusiasm of organisations like the Vale Housing Association that help us to make the world a greener place. With their sponsorship of these trees, Vale Housing Association are giving back to the environment and to the community, and contributing to education in Oxfordshire.”
Margaret Wolf, headteacher of Caldecott Primary School said, “We are very pleased to be given new tree saplings and were thrilled to have David Bellamy visit our school to talk to the children about trees and join in with us to plant them! David shared his enormous enthusiasm about trees with us in assembly and told us how we can help the environment by nurturing them. We hope that our planting schemes will ensure an attractive legacy for future pupils of Caldecott Primary School and that our efforts here will make a small contribution to looking after and preserving our planet.”
