Greener Padbury goes back to school

This week saw three of the Greener Padbury Group trustees visiting Padbury C of E School to deliver an assembly about the work it carries out in the village.  Padbury School are currently working towards their Eco-Schools Green Flag certification and have a very active Eco Council made up of 7 students, which made the visit a particularly rewarding one for the trustees.  The Eco Council, formed in 2023, is currently focusing on the following subjects which the children identified as being important to them:

1.        Increasing biodiversity

2.        Reducing plastic pollution

3.        Marine conservation

The work GPG is undertaking ties in perfectly with the Eco Council’s first 2 aims and it was a pleasure to be able to tell the children about the current projects.  Kas Gillie introduced the children to the village verge project, aimed at increasing biodiversity along the roadsides to promote pollinators.  She was able to ask that the children help the project by protecting the verges and not picking wildflowers from them as they grow.

Lucy Read then told the children about the projects aimed at inspiring children to explore and learn in nature, Muddy Toddlers and Go Wild.  It was fantastic to see how many children had already spent time in the woods with the Go Wild projects and how they recalled GPG’s plea last summer to plant wild flower seeds for the Bee Squared initiative.

Lastly, Robert Manasse explained to the children how putting scalloped edges into the Millennium Woods would help increase the biodiversity, and how he was monitoring this by way of regular moth trapping and recording.  The children were all invited to come along with their families to help identify and release the moths over the coming months.

The assembly finished with the official launch of The Great Padbury Pen Recycle scheme which ties in perfectly with the school’s aim to reduce plastic pollution.  The children were encouraged to sort their pens and stationery and to bring any broken or empty items to school for recycling by Terracycle. The children all seemed to accept the challenge enthusiastically, particularly when they were told that the class who manages to recycle the greatest weight will be rewarded at the end of term!