The Fairyland Trust has launched its first school project. At Wells
Primary School in Norfolk, children today displayed their initial
plans for adding a bit of magic to the biology in their Enchanted
Garden Project.
The year-long project involves a unique upgrade of the grounds of
the school to create magical gardens mixing ecology and enchantment.
Four main habitats are being created: a woodland, a pond, a meadow
and a butterfly garden. With their ideas displayed on a giant map,
the children aged 3 - 11 already envisage woodland unicorns and
pond-mermaids alongside poppies and bluebells.
The project aims to create a curriculum teaching resource with the
pulling power of the imagination.
Sarah Wise, Fairyland Trust Coordinator said:
"We are really delighted to have been awarded this £40,000 from
the SEED Programme of the New Opportunities Lottery Fund to make
this project possible - what's most exciting is that it's a wildlife
garden which will have magical elements and it's being designed
by and for the children. We're putting in the habitat backbone -
the best bits will be dreamt up by the pupils. This is starting
from where the children are at: they are already suggesting things
like a wooden unicorn hiding in the woods, trees with doors & mermaids
in the pond as well as frogs. It should add a whole new dimension
to pond dipping and nature study - and create great places for children
to explore and for the whole school community to use".
"We are also grateful for the enthusiasm and help of parents and
staff at the school, the County Council, the Town Council, and most
of all the children who've come up with ideas".
Supported by voluntary contributions by local artists and parents,
the grant also allows for starting a nature club, planting three
willow tunnels, planting two big trees and seats, and an interpretation
board, as well as time for organising and expert help.
For the pond it allows for buying a bridge, a pond liner, a dipping
platform, a solar water pump and safety grid as well as lots of
plants. For the woodland it involves a boardwalk, story-telling
gazebo, webcams, creation of a walk, coppicing and planting (with
help from Norfolk County Council), and an entrance arch. In the
new meadow it will mean ploughing and re-sowing with wildflowers
and grasses.
"Children from the Alderman Peel School "Excel Group"
will be involved in helping to build the gardens and we'd like to
appeal for help from anyone in the Town, or beyond, who has something
to contribute" said Sarah Wise. "First we will be ploughing up the
playing fields around the football pitch to sow the meadow - and
will be working on the woodland walk with the older children".
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