Thornbury Primary have plans for a large amount of tree planting over the next year in order to create a whole new area of woodland on their grounds. This would become an ideal area for their trained member of staff to carry out Forest Schools sessions, as well as being perfect for use by the school as a whole.
In June KPMG sent over 20 of their staff for half a day to create a pond and bog garden area and clear some of the existing planting away for replacement with a native hedge.
In July children from the school council visited the BEES urban nature reserve to research ponds, they looked at the kinds of plants that grow in ponds and had a go at dipping. They were also impressed by the woodland area at the reserve, by the effect that can be achieved in quite a small area.
In September another KPMG team of about 30 people spent a very fruitful day at the school. They finished the pond and bog garden, worked on constructing a dipping platform and a bench circle. They also began work on the vegetable growing area, constructing 2 raised beds and digging a border where herbs can be planted. The team also dug over 2 large areas where the grass had been killed off by storage containers in preparation for future meadow sowing.
Year 1 children and reception have been involved in sowing the meadow and planting up the bog garden.