The School Trees Project: the beating heart of our Communities Blossom campaign
269 trees outside 30 Lewisham schools and counting…
“My class made a hopes and dreams woodland today. They wrote their hopes and wishes inside and decorated the outside to represent them.”
Pupils from Grinling Gibbons give us their thoughts on Gardening Club while watering their new trees
Grinling Gibbons Mental Health & Pastoral Lead Amber Lyseight (and STfL Tree Champion!) talks to us about The School Trees Project
A mini Tree Champion at Coopers Lane Primary, Grove Park
Pupils at Grinling Gibbons Primary watering in our 1,000th tree
“We LOVE the trees! We can’t wait to see them in full bloom. Thank you, this is such a wonderful improvement to our street.”
Benefits of school street trees
The planting of avenues of trees close to local schools helps to create green corridors. This reduces speeding traffic and encourages walking to school, reducing the amount of cars on the roads. This in turn decreases the amount of particulates, carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide entering the atmosphere, high levels of which are known to affect respiratory function and stunt lung growth in children, possibly irreversibly.
There is also the added bonus of a tree’s ability to prevent dangerous illegal pavement parking directly outside schools, and to help with the dispersion of air pollution.
When located correctly trees can act as a protective screen between playing children and dirty exhaust fumes. The boundary wall of Rathfern School provides some protection from traffic pollution but as the trees grow their canopies will provide much more. And then there are all the other benefits mentioned below! It is easy to see how school street trees create a healthier and safer place for children during the school run.
Would you like to take part?
Environmentally conscious school communities, parents or staff are able to support STfL’s School Trees Project by becoming a Tree Champion for their local school. Tree Champions help to:
Raise awareness of the project within the school community
Safeguard the health of children and the public
Support fundraising initiatives to raise match funds for the trees
Choose species appropriate to the location
Oversee the planting programme and watering guidelines once trees are planted
STfL provides all you need to ensure the smooth running of the project, including lesson plans covering tree watering by school pupils, fundraising tips and much more. Click on the SCHOOL TREESOURCE PACKAGE below to find out more, and e-mail Marie-Claire if you would like to sign your school up!
“The School Trees Project gave us an opportunity to work together with our neighbours to create a tree-lined street outside Rathfern Primary. The children water the trees each week and do so with great enthusiasm! Looking after the trees and watching them grow makes them feel proud of the fact that they are helping to look after our planet.”
A heartfelt special thanks to Regular Cleaning for their continued support for The School Trees Project.