St Andrews Junior School have been working hard over the years to transform their grounds into a place for wildlife to thrive and connect corridors to allow wildlife to move freely. They got in touch with us here at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, eager to get involved in our Wild Peak programme, and so we took a visit to see what they have been up to around their grounds. 

We met with Claire, Outdoor Learning & Forest School Instructor, who told us all about the work the children and staff have been taking part in. 

"We have planted well over 300 trees including fruit trees with the children supplied from the Woodland Trust and The Tree Council.  We have planted fruit shrubs, herbs and each class has there own planter to grow resources. We have hedgehog houses, bird feeders and planted lots of wild flowers. We have re-wilded areas of our school field and created a new wood zone for Forest School. We use a camera to record what animals are on our site and take part in the RSPB bird watch every year."

The school have worked with what space they have, using planters to grow plants and foods in areas where they cannot dig into soil, such as the school playground. They have also teamed up with The Tree Council, with the children becoming a part of the council's Young Tree Champions programme. Every child at the school have planted a tree and have a hedgerow and copse area planted. 

When talking about the school's plans for the future, Claire said:

"Our big goal is to create a nature connection scheme and link up with our community, other schools and groups and become the beacon for other areas to aspire to; so just a little ambitious."

Claire plans to inspire other schools and communities to join together to create corridors for wildlife to move more freely. Hedgehog highways are a priority for the school, the children have been enjoying seeing the hedgehogs appear on camera traps. 

When asked what advice she would give to other schools who want to get involved in rewilding and helping wildlife in the area, Claire said: 

"Start small, have plants in the classroom, get children involved with planting herbs by creating a small sensory area. Have bird feeders and see what happens. Then go for it with spaces that don’t get used and fill with planters and scour free sites on Facebook for items."

St Andrews Junior School is another great example of a community taking part in our Wild Peak Programme. For more information about how you can get involved in the Wild Peak Programme, follow the link below to our Wild Peak page. 

Wild Peak Programme