St. Mary's Primary School, Craigavon
Date: 19 March 2008
No. of trees planted: 450
No. of people involved: 100
It was a cold but bright, sunny morning when we arrived at St Mary’s Primary School. Craigavon. The school is set in a lovely location close to the shore of Lough Neagh and the whole school was involved in planting a hedge along the boundary fence at the rear of the school.
The planting was well organised with two classes of children coming out at a time to plant for about half an hour each. The children were keen to get involved and, after listening to the safety talk and planting instructions, they paired up to start planting.
The fence was nearly 60 metres in length and we had 450 trees in total to plant, so the children had plenty to do. Heavy rain threatened to stop us, but some thoughtful teachers came to the rescue with large umbrellas for those who were not so well protected from the weather!
There was a welcome break for lunch when even our volunteers enjoyed being back in school when they were provided with hot school dinners. After lunch the planting resumed with the last class carefully filling in any gaps and helping to lay the mulch matting. The children carried on until the bell rang and it was time to go home!
The children enjoyed the experience and it is hoped that the hedge will help the school achieve its aim of improving both the sustainability of the school and the biodiversity of the school grounds.