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Mrs Atkinson will be assembling her Eco Committee soon. Listen out in assembly for more information!

Eco Committee News

July 2023

Eco Newsletter

We finish this academic year full of appreciation for our beautiful grounds and surroundings which we are so grateful for. Our Farm area is becoming expanded and developed, we have been able to maximise our outdoor learning in the Forest School area because of the long dry period of weather we experienced in May and June. Also, our wooden planters - by the crossing - are generously being supplied with blooms and watered by the Parish Council whilst we’re away from school for the summer holidays.

In Autumn term, the Eco Committee highlighted the importance of attracting birds to the garden and shared in assembly which shelters and feeders to use - to help increase our bird population numbers through the particularly cold winter. They also designed an award winning wheelbarrow, (currently outside the entrance to the school office) for the BBC Gardener’s World Live Schools Competition. The theme was ‘Increasing yield and conserving water’. The Eco Committee imaginatively designed a ‘bee assault course’ to encourage pollinators to travel high and low around the planting. They researched and chose purple, tubular flowers to attract the bees and even provided a sugar water rest stop for the bee’s comfort! They made all the structure using recycled ice cream tubs from the lunch hall. The wheelbarrow was then delivered to the NEC show, for the visitors to enjoy.

Our Wednesday Gardening Club has maintained and planted (with the help of Mrs Knapp), a beautiful outdoor space in the sensory garden area. The teacher’s enjoy eating lunch there and the Y3 and 4 children enjoy reading their stories amongst the plants. We’ve certainly seen lots of wildlife thriving there (as well as humans). We entered our Gardening Club and Eco Committee’s outdoor efforts into the Shirley Lions School’s Gardening Competition. Three judges visited school and talked to those children about their involvement in creating these outdoor spaces and…I’m pleased to announce we won 1^st place. We have been awarded £100 Notcutts vouchers and a certificate. It is such a fantastic reward for the huge effort and dedication in making our space an eco-friendly and beautiful environment. What a fantastic end to the academic year!