£10,000 Biodiversity Funding

We are excited to report that Woodlands Academy has successfully secured £10,000 of funding to support biodiversity on our school grounds.

The grant is funded by the DfE whilst engaging our pupils with the National Education Nature Park Programme. The programme empowers children and young people to make a positive difference to both their own and nature’s future.

Work has begun improving green spaces, the funding will be spent on numerous new features around school beginning with five new planters being erected over the next couple of months. These will have an array of wildlife friendly plants in them, encouraging the natural world closer into the school playgrounds. Alongside the raised planters, solar powered wildlife cameras will be set up around school and hopefully in the woods.

The project will be a whole school approach, with everyone getting involved to help create the new planters, filling them, planting them, and helping with the recording of video footage of new bird nest boxes and feeding stations.

Today, Phase One began with the installation of two new raised beds at the front of the school entrance. Pupils helped plan, mark out and construct the new raised beds. These will be a welcome addition to the front of school, and be planted up by the pupils, as soon as they are ready to be filled.

The next phase is to install a new circular bed, where we plan to have a fruit tree planted. The last two beds are the largest undertaking and will take a series of days to build.

All parts of the project will be constructed by the pupils.

As the project develops and more phases begin, we will be posting lots more pictures to show our progress!