Grange Park Primary School Eco Ambassadors work to provide important habitat at Firs Farm Wetlands Centre
This April, Grange Park Primary School sent a team of pupils to plant a hedgerow at the Firs Farm Wetland Centre. Hedgerows are one of our most important wildlife habitats. They line roads, railways and footpaths and also border fields and gardens. Hedges provide song posts, shelter and nesting opportunities for birds such as yellowhammer, whitethroat, blue tit and great tit, while nectar, berries, nuts and leaves provide food for an assortment of invertebrates, mammals and birds. In addition to providing an excellent wildlife habitat, hedges can help reduce soil erosion and water run-off on land.
In this project, the Eco Ambassadors team from Grange Park planted over 30 Rowan and Hazel plants on the edges of the tennis courts to offer vital wildlife protection in the area and extend the wildlife corridor on the site.
For the last two years, Grange Park Primary School has been working hard to lessen its environmental impact as a local institution. The children at the school have earned an Eco-Schools Green Flag award, an international accreditation, recognising their amazing work in making the school more environmentally friendly and raising eco-awareness in the community. In September 2022, the school formed an Eco-Committee, who then collaborated with Michael Robinson (a teacher at the school) to conduct an environmental review, assessing how eco-friendly the school was. They reviewed everything from biodiversity within school grounds to how children and staff members travel to the site each day. Building on their findings, they then planned a year of action designed to advance Grange Park’s green credentials, improve the local environment, and protect our planet. This year, the Eco Ambassadors were looking for a project where they could further extend this into the community, and Firs Farm seemed a perfect fit.
“ We were looking for something local,” said Mr Robinson “and the amazing transformation that Toni and the Friends of Firs Farm have achieved was something that we thought would be an inspiration to the children. To show them that they can make a difference.”
Firs Farm Wetlands is a nature haven featuring a series of natural and engineered interconnected watercourses and lakes, plus an ancient hedgerow. It is designed to mitigate downstream flooding, improve biodiversity and create a new amenity for people in the local area. The Friends of Firs Farm volunteer group welcomed the involvement of the schoolchildren. “ We were very excited to get the children involved in this important project and look forward to more involvement from Grange Park and other local schools.” said Toni Guiver, Trustee of the Friends of Firs Farm.
Contacts:
Grange Park Primary School: [email protected]
Friends of FirsFarm: [email protected]
