Planting our Hedgerow

At Goat Lees, we work really hard to make our school grounds as diverse for nature as possible. With this in mind, when we had the opportunity to apply for a grant through The Tree Council, funded by Network Rail, for a hedge, we jumped at the chance.

A gentleman called Adam Curtis (Senior Officer ‑ Community Planting Projects) contacted us, and we had a long conversation on a way forward for our school to benefit from this opportunity. From this conversation, Adam helped me to start the detailed application process, and we were lucky enough to have our bid accepted.

From that moment on, it was full steam ahead, and within a few months, our hedgerow plants, stakes, tree guards, compost, mulch and tools started to arrive. The next step was to plant the young sapling plants, and Adam kindly offered his help to us as he was extremely knowledgeable on the correct way of planting to make sure as many saplings survived as possible. Once a date was set, we then put out a plea for parents, children and staff volunteers. Of course, we were not let down, and we had lots of helpers. Before we knew it, the hedgerow was in; no mean feat as the hedgerow runs along the whole of the back of our field boundary fence. We all had a fabulous time, and the weather was extremely kind to us.

Now we are excitedly waiting for our wonderful new hedgerow to grow and see what we can spot inhabiting and using this fantastic addition to our already diverse outside area. It has been three months since the planting, and we have already caught sight of a hedgehog strolling amongst the young saplings on our wildlife camera, along with our resident robin, perching happily on the hawthorn shrubs. We are so looking forward to seeing what other creatures it encourages as it matures.