Tree Nursery beds in schools

Setting up the nursery beds

As tree planting finished, several schools were contacted to see if they would like to either establish - or re-establish nursery beds in their school grounds. These beds would home the saplings that will be planted out in November 2024 at Bury Hill, when the schools begin their annual tree planting adventures with ATU.

Looking after the trees for nearly a whole year, is a wonderful opportunity for the children to see how the trees develop throughout four seasons. The children will take the time to observe and record the changes as well as look after the soil around the beds. This will enable the trees to grow big and strong ready to be dug up and moved to their final planting position at Bury Hill.

The children who have cared for these trees, will raise them and plant them out -we hope that they will then come up to Bury Hill to keep an eye on them and watch their devlopment over the years. The first group of schools who have taken on this task are; Clatford Cof E, Knights Enham, The Skylark federation, Smannell and Enham and Portway Juniors. We look forward to seeing how the trees devlop throughout the year.

Thank you so much everyone, and if any other schools would like to develop their nurseries please do message me on joanna.oliver-hawkins@andovertrees.org.uk

Knights Enham - end of Summer Term 2024

During talk time, pupils from Knights Enham have really enjoyed caring for and observing their trees in the nursery beds. Although….this term, it has not gone exactly according to plan! When the year six talk team planted the trees with Miss White, they planted them lovngly in what they thought were empty beds. The beds were dug over and the trees were planted. As the year progressed, although the regular talk team weeded obvious unwanted rivals away - they noticed that these beds were infact inhabitated by something else! In one of the beds, a huge array of poppies appeared - of so many colours and sizes, that the team have had to work really hard to prevent the saplings becoming strangled. As you can see from the photos, nearly all of the trees have made it, although a couple of oaks have unfortuantely dies. This is not necessarily becuase of the poppies - but worth noting for next year. In the second bed, another rampant plant had been lying in wait! This time, a fabulously pungent mint and catnip duo have dominated the bed. In this bed, all the trees seem very happy with their neighbours, infact the blackthron have thrived in these conditions! Miss White explained to me how fabulous the beds have been for engaging the children in the development of the trees throughout the year. She gave me so many examples of the careful observations that the children have made - including the diffference between an ‘Oak’s’ leaves and an ‘English Oak’s’ leaves. The have carefully observed how trees the same age are so different in size and marvelled in the speed that the Blackthorn has grown! Lots of the children are year sixes, so won’t be around to plant these trees at Bury HIll. However, year four talk team will be taking over the care of the trees in September, before bringing them up to Bury Hill for their final planting out.

Skylark Federation - end of Summer Term 2024

Year one have certainly delivered as true stewards of the trees. Even at such a young age, it is clear that they are passionate about looking after the trees in their care. On site at Appleshaw, there stands a beautiful old Oak, big enough to fit the whole school under to protect them from the sun. This beautiful tree is a firm favourite of the children, with several children stating, “ …we love collecting acorns and the different colour leaves in the Autumn” Year one were able to explain to us that, “ …when we planted our Oak tree, it had no leaves..it just looked like a stick. Now they have nearly doubled in size since we planted them, with thick leaves.”….the children realised, and explained very eloquently that, “the trees stored water and food in their roots and then it was sucked up to feed the leaves”. Having an old Oak tree in the ground, along with a tree nursery bed shows how long the Skylark schools have been protecting the trees. The Year One children certainly had a huge amount of knowledge and empathy for the natural world.

Clatford CofE - end of Summer Term 2024

Upon arrival at the trees with Year Three, it was immediatly obvious that the children had taken real ownership of their trees. They were able to go straight to the tree that had planted and had been caring for. The trees have been measured and observed throughout the year, with the Eco club and Gardening club taking on the role of watering the saplings. The results are amazing! Some of the hawthorn are huge! whilst others have grown at a more sedate speed. This was very much a topic that the children wanted to discuss -why some saplings, planted at the same time, grew at such different rates. It was an interesting discussion, with nutrients, light, insect life…and the fact that all living things grow at different rates as feasible options. Thank you year three for looking after the trees so well - and for continuing the fight against the bind weed! We look forward to seeing you with your amazing trees at Bury Hill in November.

Portway Juniors - end of Summer Term 2024

The three beds at Portway Juniors are looking beautifully tended, thanks to the help of the wonderful gardening club. The team of predominately year six (although there are certainly a handful of meticulous LKS2 workers involved!) have worked really hard throughout the year to make sure that the trees have plenty of room for growth - and they have done an amazing job. One of the Oak trees is huge! I must also thank the HIve group, who have taken on the job of watering the trees all through the year - great job. The teacher incharge of gardening and forest school wanted to let me know how well the Hive group had noticed the difference between the trees - observing how the Oak and Hazel leaves were such different shapes. It’s fabulous to see observational skills developing - well done everyone. The trees look great and we look forward to seeing you all in the Autumn.

Planting Out the Trees from the Nursery Beds

November brought with it tree planting season - super exciting for our schools that have been nurturing their saplings over the last year. This was the time for the trees to be lifted and transported to Bury Hill for their final planting out. Clatford, Portway, Knights Enham, and the Skylark Federation have done a marvellous job. Over the past few weeks, I have been lucky enough to visit the schools and help with the lifting of the trees. The children have been so kind and knowledgeable, letting me know how the trees have grown over the last year - what differences they have noticed and informing me of the importance of being gentle with the root systems. Thank you so much to the children and the staff of the schools for all your work and care over the last year. We are really looking forward to supplying these schools, along with Abbots Ann and St Johns who will be joining the tree nursery group next year.