Year 5 children from St Peter’s Junior School have been having fun and getting muddy planting a range of bee-friendly plants, as part of the school’s first ever Bee Week. As well as planting bee-friendly flowers around the school grounds, bought with a donation from Barratt and David Wilson Homes, the children also listened to a talk by Glenis Swift from Nottinghamshire Beekeepers and learned about the importance of bees to our ecosystem and the threats they face.
A giant bee, butterfly and stag beetle also took shape, as children worked with Nottingham-based artist Michelle Reader to create sculptures of endangered insects from recycled materials.
St Peter’s has a large amount of outdoor space and has already taken steps to make its grounds a better environment for wildlife by creating an orchard area, planting a hedgerow, managing woodland, planting a wildflower meadow and creating mini allotments where children can grow their own flowers, fruit and vegetables. During the week children were challenged to redesign their own allotment plots or gardens to make them more bee-friendly.
“Children across the world are quite rightly responding to the damage we’ve done to the environment,” said Head Teacher, John Mapperley. “We want our children to know that there’s so much they can do to ‘be the change’.”
Pictured from left to right are George Brooks, Joe Bowie, Ruiee Ali, Beth Connor, Zac Bellamy, Elin Colville, Anna Clifford and Jasmine Archer.
Karen Cross, Teacher, St Peter’s Junior School