Pupils at Waldegrave School have partnered with the ‘Friends of Meadway Orchard‘ this year as part of ongoing work by the River Crane Smarter Water Catchment initiative. Hosted by ‘Let’s Go Outside and Learn‘, who have an annual engagement programme for schools to involve young people in the initiative, pupils took part in a practical session in a Mereway Nature Park (close to Waldegrave) with ‘Friends of Meadway Orchard’ and then a workshop to explore the role of blue and green space in climate resilience and adaption.
On 22 October, fifteen Waldegrave pupils from our Eco Committee took part in a wonderful day of activities. They helped with practical conservation activities, from learning how to create a dead hedge using fallen branches, the safe use of garden tools as well as pruning and removing unwanted plants. The group worked hard with buckets of energy and smiles on their faces – celebrating each others root ripping out successes – as they listened and learned from the volunteers. They returned to school for lunch and then had a workshop with ‘Let’s Go Outside and Learn’ who talked to them about climate adaptation and resilience. They created climate resilience stories in a game, found poetry in ecology text and importantly they also created their own art works that explored the ideas of conservation volunteering, climate adaption and resilience, as well as the role that we can all play in creating change.
Three other school also took part in the initiative in the wider River Crane Catchment, these were Nower Hill High School, Harrow, Ruislip High School and Pinner High School, both in Hillingdon. A final collective piece has been created using all the pupils art which can be seen below alongside a visual record of the joint activities undertaken by the entire initiative this year.
We are looking forward to receiving the artwork for display at Waldegrave this Summer Term.
