Cranborne Primary School
February 2021...
"We have started with litter picks led by our Eco-council and two 'Big Dig' community events over half term to clear and start building new projects around our pond area. We cut back trees around the pond to let more light in and used lots of the wood we cut down to create a dead hedge fence. We will also install some slatted fencing with hedgehog highway holes cut along the bottom and porthole windows to enable the children to get little glimpses of the pond. We are creating a pallet wall at the main entrance side of the pond area to reduce the amount of fencing we need to buy. The pallets are all donated. We will be putting a rainbow that matches our school logo on the wall made from recycled bottle tops and a quote from William Wordsworth - “Let nature be your teacher.”
Inside the pond area we’ve cleared a large shrub to create the site for a raised bed sensory garden. We have attached left over pallet wood to any tree stumps we've created to make fairy houses. Any extra pallets will be used to make a large mud kitchen. Our pallet wall is up and needs a mural painted. We are waiting to run our next community event to put up some more of the new fencing. The project is very much ongoing, it is a very exciting time for us."
March 2023...
"A local business have donated a butterfly and bee border, wild flower meadow and some native trees for our school site. We’ve recently received a grant of £350 from our local labour councillor and we are waiting to hear from Wickes to see if they can supply some materials to build a sensory garden.
We’ve had a donation of logs and stumps from our neighbour, Elm Court who had a few trees felled. The wood will be repurposed into seating for our fire pit and Wild Book Nook."
January 2024...
"Over the summer and Autumn term we have been planting and organising the area a little more for the children to use.
We now have a mud kitchen made from recycled pallets and a pollinator friendly sensory garden with flower beds also made from pallets and reclaimed wood. We have created 3 large compost bins which we are planning to use to recycle the fruit and veg waste from our children's snacks, as well as the grass clippings and pruning's from the nature area. In front of the pond dead hedge, we are planning to build 2/3 raised vegetable beds to encourage the children to plant fruit and vegetables and see how things grow. We will be able to use the compost made to help our plants grow too. Our Eco council have planted lots of bulbs ready for the Spring and during our digging to put in the fire pit we uncovered over 30 newts, which we carefully moved to a different location near the pond.
We had the first class of year 3 children use the new fire pit as part of their Stone Age day for history. They did fire lighting, storytelling and den building as well as foraging for edible plants."
- Lucy Holt, teacher at Cranborne Primary