Completed Roots & Shoots Projects to Inspire You

Our project is to steer Priestlands and the school community towards a more sustainable future. The process began in March 2006 when we registered the school as an Eco School and since then the scope of the project has grown as have the number of people within the community who are involved. As part of an environmental audit of the school undertaken by the students they ‘discovered’ a derelict one acre Victorian walled garden within the grounds. Since then the students have been working alongside other people from the community (local farmers, parents and teachers) to restore it and turn it into a walled garden for the 21st century. They have already had many successes: after …

Read all of Priestlands Eco Warriors

St. Michael’s Primary School, Bournemouth
Hello, We are a primary school of about four hundred 4-11 year olds in the centre of town, and last July the whole school took a week away from the normal timetable to run a project. This was so that the messages of Roots and Shoots would have a big impact and the whole school community would learn about the issues.
What happened?
The week began with a special visit from Jane Goodall who talked about her work with chimpanzees in Tanzania. This helped the children to understand why we had become involved with Roots and Shoots and the importance of animal conservation in the future.

Each class was asked to complete activities based on the three elements …

Read all of Roots and Shoots Community Learning Week

Rosemellin Primary School, Camborne.
Project run by Agent Norris and her year 5 class a.k.a. the “Rosemellin Woodland Rangers”.
Other people involved:

The National Trust
Cornwall Wildlife Trust
Cornwall Environmental Consultants
Agent Lambert, Project Coordinator, Camborne Science & Community College

Aims:

To design and develop a woodland ecological site on the school premises using the already existing nature area.
To give pupil ownership of the project by getting them involved in the design and some of the work.
To create links with local organisations.
To incite the whole school to use their outdoor area and link it to the curriculum in subjects such as science and art.

Summary of what happened:
The pupils set out to learn as much as they could about woodlands in order …

Read all of Woodland Rangers

Chesterton Community College, Cambridge.
We have been developing our school wasteland into a wildlife community garden for 2 years. The new garden has improved the school environment, created facilities for birds and wildlife. It offers a safe and peaceful space for members of the public to enjoy.

We applied for various grants and received money from Cambridgeshire County Council (Sustainability Grant) and money for Gifted and Talented summer school projects. This money was put towards working with a professional designer, paying for steps, a pond, plants, bird feeders and a raised flower bed. We have received volunteer help from students, parents and friends.

The garden was officially opened on April 21st 2007. The event included: a plant stall, card making, a treasure hunt, …

Read all of Wasteland to Wildlife Garden

Although new to the program they are twinned with a school in Uganda who were one of the first schools to take on the Roots & Shoots project. The staff are visiting the school in a couple of weeks and will discuss working together on Roots & Shoots projects.

The school cares for children with severe disabilities.

They have been educating the children about British Wildlife. This is at a very basic level but is very successful with the children who search in the grass for critters and are learning how to identify the differences between insects, birds and mammals.

The project is going to be developed into a wildlife survey on the school grounds.

The Roots & Shoots group is relatively new and hasn’t yet taken off, but the aim is to organise some coastal clean-ups as well as start a recycling initiative.

The school already has an eco schools award.

The Roots & Shoots group intends to liaise with other schools in Cornwall.

Wendy has been taking students to Romania, with her to help with Romanian Children’s Relief. Two of the students that she took in June, helped care for abandoned babies and a group of Romanian children. The project had been started by a former Tasis student.

The school has done charitable work for Redwings Horse Sanctuary.

The school has linked up with Richard Dunne at Ashley to see what work they have been doing for the environment. A group of students are going to set up an environmental club in September.

Wendy has also been invited to Antartica by Robert Swan, where they will investigate sustainable energy and leadership. So in light of this Wendy has started a club called …

Read all of Tasis, Surrey - Romanian Children’s Relief!

Some of the children are doing individual projects, whether on animals, fungi, plants.

The school has a climate change garden which educates the children about being aware of climate change and its affects on the environment. The garden includes native plants and
vegetables which they are selling at the school gates.

They are currently building an invertebrate habitat, which is a very extensive project for them.

The school is a big follower of Fairtrade and two year 8s as well as two year 11s gave a presentation on Fairtrade at a recent fair-trade conference.

The school is also heavily involved with recycling and are one of the best recyclers in Hampshire. They are leading 9 other schools in a sustainable schools initiative.

The schools is setting up a bird camera so that the children can see the hatching of chicks in the bird boxes.

They have a productive garden with vegetable sales.

The school is very focused towards being environmentally friendly and sustainable.