Trees sponsored by
Cummins Limited
“It was fun working with David Bellamy because he loves wildlife” - Kyle Paterson, Firthmoor pupil
Following their tree planting, Firthmoor Primary School officially became a School on the Wildside. Schools on the Wildside is a new online community, run by Tree Appeal, which gives schools who are passionate about the environment a medium through which to record and update their environmental activities.
The staff and students of Firthmoor will be involved in measuring the growth of their saplings during Tree Measuring Week each October and are invited to compare the progress of their trees with those in schools all across the UK.
From summer 2010, they will also be able to use their Wildside web page to store information on all of their other activities. Perhaps they will share any creepy crawly visitors they find living in the trees or the amount of butterflies they spot. Through Schools on the Wildside, the sponsors from Cummins will be able to pay a virtual reality ‘visit’ to the school whenever they like and see the lasting effect their trees have had.
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Planting at Firthmoor Primary School, Darlington
April 1st 2010
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On a blustery but sunny spring day, Professor David Bellamy and the Tree Appeal team were lucky enough to visit Firthmoor Primary School, where 100 native broad leaved saplings were planted.
Professor Bellamy and the Firthmoor pupils unearth one of many juicy worms discovered on the day!
“My favourite part was when David was talking about all the worms we found!” Chloe Cowie, Firthmoor pupil
The trees were sponsored into the school by Cummins, who sent along an enthusiastic team of representatives to roll up their sleeves and help the school to get their trees in the ground.
Professor Bellamy then took a full school assembly, where the children had the opportunity to ask him questions about his life and experiences, before they were presented with planting certificates to mark their fantastic achievement.
"We liked planting trees as it gives us oxygen and gives wildlife a new home. It was the best thing to plant a tree with David Bellamy" Michael Elve & Katie Wennington, Firthmoor pupils
Professor Bellamy was thrilled to meet everyone at Firthmoor School and commended their ambition to develop their school grounds by planting the trees. As the saplings grow, they will help to form part of a wildlife meadow, which the school also hopes to fill with wildflowers. In the summer months, this shady wooded area will provide welcome relief from the sun, giving the children a peaceful spot in which to relax, as well as providing a much needed home for birds, mammals and insects.
The children stumble across freshly laid frogspawn in their school grounds
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The school were just as delighted to meet the botanist and television presenter, with class teacher, Miss True, saying “It was a great afternoon and David has inspired the children to find out more about their local environment and the creatures that live there.”
Professor Bellamy said, “Trees are amazing things. They live longer than we do and throughout their lives, they do something useful every second of the day. By planting these saplings, Firthmoor have shown an outstanding commitment to the environment, which will endure for many hundreds of years. A big WOW! to the children of Firthmoor and many thanks to Cummins for sponsoring them.”
During the planting, the pupils of Firthmoor were thrilled to discover a large clump of frogspawn in a muddy puddle around the edge of their school field. To save the tadpoles from certain death when the puddle dries up, the quick thinking staff provided Professor Bellamy with a bucket of water and he rescued the spawn, taking them home to begin life in the safety of his garden pond in Hamsterley Forest. Before David’s departure, the children were fascinated to hear all about how the spawn will hatch into tadpoles and grow into froglets.
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More Pictures
from the planting at
Firthmoor Primary School, Darlington
You can read all about the planting day in our downloadable newsletter. (PDF 1.4MB)
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