Young Tree Champions

For the first stage of the project, a group of students and a lead teacher were chosen as representatives for their school. The project planning stage involved a whole school presentation and a baseline survey to identify the school’s priority needs. Tree Council provided guidance on:

• Student questionnaire on school priorities
• Guidance and training on action planning to incorporate well-being, learning, inclusion and advocacy
• Options for tree packs the school can apply for
• Planning the learning activities
• The necessary knowledge and skills to care for their new trees and share their new expertise

After the plan was decided, the schools received their tree packs and delivered their planting with the support of volunteers. In addition, several schools received a full day of in-school support from the Tree Council; known as a “Force for Nature (F4N) Day”. The F4N Day involved:

• Project briefing and selecting career roles (project manager, mapping officer, education officer, tree officer)
• Mapping existing habitats and trees in their school grounds
• Mapping existing learning/well-being related activities in their school grounds
• Tree planting activities for both students and teachers
• Reflection session on how the students had developed their green knowledge and their sense of connection with nature and each other
• Creating a presentation on their project to share with the wider school community.

As part of their mission to develop green skills, the Tree Council also shared their “Tree Career Cards" with the students. These cards showcase the wide range of career opportunities in the environmental sector.

Pinkwell Primary School and Harlington School are neighbouring schools in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The schools are located between Heathrow Airport and the M4, and therefore face significant environmental challenges. Pinkwell Primary School is a Beacon School, while Harlington School is a mixed, non-selective secondary school and sixth form that joined the Young Tree Champions programme in August 2024. They joined forces to transform their school grounds and their wider neighbourhood.

By working together to develop their plan for change, they have delivered:

• Nearly 1,000 new trees planted across both schools
• A shared tree nursery so that both schools can grow their own trees
• A nature trail between the two schools. The trail includes a mix of hedgerow trees and fruit trees.
• 5 orchard trees along Harlington School’s bike sheds to shade an exposed area and create a nature corridor

The green skills that the schools shared include:

• Arboriculture: what trees to plant, where, why and how
• Leadership, communication and teamwork
• Habitat mapping

Following the success of the partnership, both schools are committed to continuing to work together. Their vision is to continue growing the programme and provide greater outreach to their wider community. Key future objectives include:

• Expand the programme to include more students across both schools, especially for those that are most disadvantaged
• Use the tree nursery to grow more trees in their school grounds

Encourage students to take saplings home and involve more families in planting and caring for trees.

The Young Tree Champions programme in London has successfully met and exceeded its objectives. Key achievements include:

• Expanding the Young Tree Champions programme in London to 35 schools across 19 boroughs
• Planting over 4,400 trees in areas that currently lack trees
• Over 1,000 young Londoners taking part in the workshops
• Engaging with over 100 teachers and 100 community volunteers

The Beacon Schools network was very successful at creating partnerships between schools. By bringing together existing Beacon Schools with newly recruited schools, they shared skills and resources to create greener environments for their students. The Tree Council will continue their support for the most committed schools to gain Beacon School status and develop their initial projects to involve the whole school and their wider community. Thanks to its partnership with Pinkwell Primary School, Harlington School is now on its way to achieve Beacon School status just four months after joining the programme.

However, a significant challenge was a lack of time for teachers to deliver the project and a lack of horticultural knowledge, a Few schools had previous outdoor teaching or tree-related horticulture experience. The Tree Council also had to dedicate more in-school face-to-face time to advise and support teachers in embedding Young Tree Champions into the schools’ curriculum. This was necessary to ensure post-planting care and longer term sustainability of the project.

• Build a network of schools and wider stakeholders that can share outdoor teaching and horticulture knowledge and resources. This allows less experienced schools to learn from their peers and helps to reduce potential challenges.
• Provide in-school face-to-face training and support for schools most in need.
• Ensure the lead teacher receives additional time from the Senior Leadership Team to embed the project into the school’s curriculum ahead of delivery.
• Allow sufficient lead-in time when planning school planting projects. Ideally, the planning and application process should start during the summer term (April to July) prior to the main planting season (spring term: January to March). This provides extra time for teacher training and ensures that the whole school is invested in the project.

Find out more about the Tree Council’s Young Tree Champions.