TreeAction for Durrington Infant and Junior School

Who We Are

Tree Action is a not-for-profit volunteer led organisation in Sussex set up a few years ago to deliver and organise tree planting and maintenance projects for schools and communities - www.treeactionuk.org 

We engage young people and their families with the projects we have developed on public land given to us to plant trees by local authorities, and we also organise projects for schools so that their students can become part of tackling climate change whilst connecting with the environment as they learn about sustainability.

We are currently fifteen regular part-time volunteers handling all admin planning and conservation including a volunteer forest school team leader, an arborist, a teacher, a part-time marketing officer, a number of graduates and masters student volunteers. On top of that we get support and guidance from the local council's environmental team.

What We've Done So Far

We started by planting over 200 trees in the Shoreham by Sea and Southwick areas of West Sussex with the help of local volunteers. We then turned our attention to schools. We've now worked with 7 schools, two secondary academies and five primary schools, helping them to plan and co-ordinate tree planting projects, and in one case we worked with Warden Park Academy in Cuckfield through the lockdown period to successfully crowdfund and plan for their project which involves planting 57 trees and developing a community garden at the rear of the school. 

"This is a brilliant project not only for the students at Warden Park but for the environment too." - E. Rudden, supporter.

Photos Above: Students of Warden Park Academy potting some self seeded oaks to raise funds for more trees. Below: Woodgate Primary Academy students involved in planting over 20 trees at their school and getting lots of their environment questions answered by our aborists partners.

The Assistant Head at Buckingham Park Primary School said in a statement to the local press after a tree planting event that some of the students had never planted anything in their lives, and many of them were raving about their experience afterwards.

We then started to deliver two further projects on the grounds of Buckingham Park Primary school in Shoreham by Sea December 2021 where we planted 22 trees including Plums, Silver Birches, an Indian Bean trees, a Liquid amber and five pear trees, with a further 38 trees being planted there by us this year, and at Eastbrook Primary Academy where all the students got involved in planting Lime Trees, Silver Birches and Oak trees. At Eastbrook a sustainable watering solution is needed so the school doesnt have to pay for watering the trees, as well as paying for their wish list of tools including watering cans for the students to water their trees with.

Top: Students from Eastbrook Primary Academy planting Silver Birch trees on their school grounds. Middle: Students from Oak Grove College where we funded and planted 24 trees, an orchard of plums and pears, Silver Birch and a mullti-stem Hazel coppice. Bottom : Volunteers after a tree maintenance afternoon caring for around 50 young woodland trees we planted at Adur Rec in Shoreham last year.

Students are now involved in weeding and caring for their trees in line with the maintenance plan we provided. The schools tell us the students are so excited when its their turn to get outdoors to look after their trees! 

Our volunteer numbers are growing including conservation volunteers and we have the opportunity to do more projects in the community. 

What We Want To Do Now

We are looking to raise £5000 so we can pay for an orchard of 20 fruit trees to be planted on the grounds of Durrington Infant and Junior School, near Worthing, West Sussex during the next tree planting season. The planting itself would involve the students who will also be caring for those trees and harvesting the fruit for years to come. This will be our 8th school project in Sussex of between 20 – 50 trees. You can find out more about previous school projects we have organised or supported here - https://treeactionuk.org/school-projects/

Durrington Infant and Junior support a considerable number of vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils and their families. They have a food bank supporting up to 50 families each month, offering breakfast to pupils, and each Friday make surplus food available to families who cannot always provide fresh fruit to their children. Fruit from the orchard would also be offered mid-morning snacks to any pupils.

The varieties we will order will likely include pear, plum and cherry trees and the project will help the school to address an educational vacuum through hands on tree care and fruit picking as part of the curriculum.

Above: Site at the school where the orchard will be planted is next to several areas near the playground. The trees will be mature trees aged between 3-5 years old UK native grown. Below: Some of the young eco-team and year 3 cohort at the school who will be involved in planting looking after the trees. Some are school councilors as well so represent their class.   

The school's nursery children will pay visits to begin understanding nature from early on adopting a tree as part of their "Well-being Wednesday" and lessons including cooking and understanding where food comes from would use this.

A range of children will be involved from nursery up to year 6, so this will be a whole school project. 

We hope you can support us to support young people and our communities to care for trees and help get them established!