The Blue School goes green with Royal Canopy Project

21st March 2023

Pupils, teachers and parents at an Isleworth primary school have been getting their hands dirty for a very good cause by helping transform their playground railings as part of The Queen’s Green Canopy initiative.

From nursery through to year six, the whole community of 450 children at The Blue School CofE Primary were involved in planting 450 new trees in early March this year. These carefully selected whips will flourish into a 2m high, 90m long native hedge along the railings at the front of the school’s North Street border.

With funding and tree donations from The Tree Council, the project is part of The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC), a nationwide tree planting initiative created to honour Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

Chief Executive Officer of The Queen’s Green Canopy, Dan Rex said:

“The Queen’s Green Canopy is delighted to be partnered with Defra, The Tree Council and The Blue School on our programme of nationwide tree planting to honour the late Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, building a greener environment for generations to come.”

Director of Programmes at The Tree Council and Isleworth resident, Clare Bowen said:

“Every child deserves green space to play and clean air to breathe, as well as the opportunity to connect with the natural world for their own wellbeing. The planting day at The Blue School was incredible with every single child getting involved with planting and watering the hedges and then spreading 9000l of mulch to give them the best start! Such impressive teamwork and we are proud to be helping create a living legacy with over a million trees planted in Queen Elizabeth’s name.”

As well as contributing to the nationwide QGC legacy, this hedge project looks set to provide an extra special enhancement to The Blue School’s look and feel. A mix of native species – including hawthorn, hornbeam, field maple, crab apple, elder and beech – will provide a nesting, shelter and foraging habitat for birds, mammals and invertebrates throughout the year. The hedge will also provide a natural pollution filter between the road and the nursery playground, improving the air for the children to breathe. For generations of nursery children especially, all of this adds up to wonderful play opportunities too, that go beyond concrete and astroturf and offer a chance to connect directly with nature on their doorstep.

When it comes to looking after the hundreds of new saplings, it’s the older pupils who are ready and willing to take a leading role, while also hopefully sowing the seeds for a lifelong love of planting. The school’s very own gardening club (made up of Y6 pupils) has taken on watering and mulching duties, with help from their classmates. Once the hedge is fully established in the coming years, there are likely to be quite a number of former Blue School pupils who will be able to claim that they saw it get off the ground and helped make it a success.

“I loved helping to plant our new hedge – it was a chance for us to be outside, learn, have fun and take action for our planet. It’s like science, PE and nature lessons all in one go!” – Thomas aged 11.

“I think we should learn outside more often, it’s much more interesting and fun and you can really understand what happens in real life” – Jack aged 9.

The Blue School is extremely grateful to The Tree Council and The Queen’s Green Canopy for their support.

The Tree Council is the national charity that brings everyone together for the love of trees. It runs a national schools programme calling on young people to be a Force for Nature and to take action to green their grounds and speak up for nature. If your local school is interested in planting in their school grounds and helping pupils connect with nature, visit www.treecouncil.org.uk and get involved.