MP for North East Hertfordshire, Sir Oliver Heald, is encouraging schools across the constituency to take advantage of the Woodland Trust’s offer to help children connect with nature and improve their local areas by planting trees for free.
Children can look forward to planting a copse or hedge, which can provide a wild harvest or a burst of colour all year round.
DEFRA is now supporting the Woodland Trust to offer an additional 45,000 British native trees to 7,000 state-funded primary schools in England.
As well as free tree packs, there is help for eligible schools in finding somewhere else to plant if there is not room on school grounds, help with protection to help the trees grow, and help with online curriculum-linked resources to support teachers’ lesson plans.
Commenting, Sir Oliver said, “This great opportunity will help schools improve their local environment and enable children to learn about nature. Trees bring enormous benefits to the environment, something underlined in Chapter 5 of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and I encourage local schools to take part.”
Note: the closing date for applications is January 8th 2016, and full details can be found on https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/in-your-community/apply-for-a-school-tree-pack/
Follow Sir Oliver on Twitter at www.twitter.com/OliverHealdMP