Just One Tree Day

At Woodlands, we are incredible proud to support such an important environmental charity. We have held a JUST ONE TREE day for a few years now and we hope that this will continue for some time...

Greenhouse Progress

We are proud to announce that we now have a roof on our greenhouse! We want to thank both the PTA for donating the roof material and our wonderful parent, Anthony Jones, for fitting it so perfectly. Without Anthony's help we would not have the greenhouse as he has: laid the slabs, built the frame and attached the roof...not all heroes wear capes!

Water Bottles for Outreach Angels, Birmingham

We want to thank everyone who has donated their unwanted water bottles. These will help to prevent unnecessary landfill and have a positive impact on other people's lives. 

Just One Tree

Every October, we take part in a worthwhile learning day which incorporates information and knowledge about trees; their benefits, how they are important to both the planet and wildlife, how useful they are, different types and so forth. This year we collected £122.32 for the charity and we hope to continue this year. They have shared some wonderful news as a copy of their email, below, states:

'We’re so excited to tell you that JUST ONE Tree is now an official partner of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Along with only a few hundred other organisations from across the world, our crucial work has been recognised.

Without you, Woodlands Infant School and our other school partners, we would not be able to be as effective in preventing, halting and reversing nature loss, tackling climate change and bringing education about the environment into schools.

You and your pupils have played a key role in this recognition. Through JUST ONE Tree Day, we’ve planted over a quarter of a million trees! In fact, you’re also reviving landscapes, changing lives, and saving species - from one horned rhinos in Nepal to lemurs in Madagascar - from becoming extinct. 

Registration is now open for the next JUST ONE Tree Day on Friday 13^th October. We do hope you'll join us again. We really appreciate your support.'

Below are links to their website, take a look at the wonderful work they do!

https://www.justonetree.life/articles_un_decade_on_ecosystem_restoration.html

https://www.justonetree.life/just_one_tree_day_is_my_school_on_the_list_2022.html

Solihull Fairtrade Trail 2023 

The 2023 Solihull Fairtrade Trail theme was a heart base containing the slogan 'Use Fairtrade Now to Save the Future of our Favourite Food'. The trail consists of a collection of local Solihull schools' work that are positioned in different areas around Touchwood. This occurs during Fairtrade Fortnight and works well as it happens during half term so everyone can have a go!

Here we asked each class to make a heart about Fairtrade after their lesson on what Fairtrade is and why it is so important.

Year One's Eco topic: What a Waste

During Autumn, Year One's English include the book What a Waste by Jess French. They learnt all about how to look after our world. Their excellent work was used for their school hall display...and it looks amazing! Their work consisted of creating accurate police reports about the ocean and eye catching persuasive posters.

Here is a photo of their fantastic eco work!

Guinea Pig Food

As you will know, we have two guinea pigs in school and we were delighted to realise that they love...carrot tops! We have been giving them the little treats as we remove the carrots from the ground, fresh and organic too! 

This gave us an idea, why don't we grow the tops from carrot offcuts?? So this is what we are doing, it's free and eco-friendly!

Just One Tree Day

For a few years now, we have been having an eco related charity day. The charity that we have supported has been Just One Tree. They are an organisation that plant trees across the world to support the environment and local communities. We ask the children to come into school in Autumnal colours and donate £1 to the charity. We are sharing some of the work the children did whilst learning about how important trees actually are!

If you are interested in learning more, please take a look at the link below.

This year we have raised £122.32 which means there will be 122 more trees in the world!

Garden 2022

Well, this has been a strange year! We only managed to plant in one of our growing beds this year. We added edible flowers (nasturtiums and marigold), carrots, broad bean and tomatoes. Everything went wild with the nasturtium were growing like vines and the tomatoes were in abundance! During the Summer holiday, the weather was so unpredictably hot, and with the water shortage, it seemed wise to leave them and let the plants fend for themselves. Due to this, it was expected that we would return to a pile dehydrated plant in a sorry state. However, this was not the case...they went wild! We did have some casualties...the tomatoes were plentiful but they were not healthy and had to be composted. The carrots have been great and have been give to the school kitchen for the children's lunches!

BBC Gardeners' World Wheelbarrow Competition - June 2022

Biodiversity

Well, it's was a great experience creating our wheelbarrow. Our democratically chosen country of New Zealand was a great choice! The children had such fun creating the artwork and the Eco Bees enjoyed sowing the seeds. It was tough competition with both the volume and quality of the other entries from other schools, but we did our best! 

Sunflower Den

Last year we attempted to create a pea tepee. Unfortunately, it didn't go quite to plan as the pots seemed to be too small to sustain the plants. Undefeated, we are always going to try new ideas and hope that they work! This year were are attempting to create a Sunflower den around our current pergola. We have invited our school children to donate one of their sunflowers, that they are growing at home, to be planted for the den. 

We will be measuring the flowers to see which one gets to be the tallest!

School plastic bottle greenhouse

We have been so excited to be able to get started on our school plastic bottle greenhouse all because of the kindness of our local community! Firstly, we want to thank EH Smith for their wonderful generosity! This year marks their 100th anniversary and they have done us proud by donating the timber and sand for our greenhouse.

Next we want to thank our wonderful parents for their continuous support. The greenhouse frame has been built by Antony Jones and his work partner. We have been incredibly lucky that they had volunteered their own time to improve our school's garden...we can't wait to start growing our fruit and veg in there!

We still have a way to go as we now need to build the plastic bottle walls and sort out the roof! 

Keep an eye out for any future developments!

Thanks you!  

Here is an example of the plastic bottle wall. The bottle are fitted together on a bamboo cane and attached to the frame in rows.

Used Stamp collection

We have been collecting used stamps on behalf of Solihull Zero Wasters, who are collecting for the PDSA. We have placed a box in our school office entrance for more stamps to be added. 

Edit: Solihull Zero Wasters are unable to continue with their mission to have an eco friendly shop in Solihull. We wish them all the best on an future projects they may ensue.  However, we will continue to collect stamps and deliver them directly to the PDSA ourselves. We have now delivered our first batch to PDSA so keep those stamps coming! 

BBC Gardener's World Wheelbarrow Competition

Woodlands are very excited to be entering this competition and to get started we are giving you a sneaky peek of what we are doing. There is a lot more to come, but for now, here is the start of our wheelbarrow.  

Fairtrade Trail Entry Display

We loved the entries so much that we couldn't bear to let them go! So we made a colourful display, situated by the playground, so the children could see all the amazing entries everyday! The children love this display and they think it has made a lovely addition to a rather empty and plain wall.

Well done to everyone that put in the hard-work!

Solihull Fairtrade Trail 2022 entry

We are very pleased to inform you that we have entered into the Solihull Fairtrade Trail happening in Solihull centre. We are adding this here for anyone who can't make it to the trail. You can find the information on where and how on the poster. Please find the time to go and look at all the entries. 

'To have the world we want, we must think outside the box!'

Fairtrade Fortnight

This year, Woodlands Infant School will be making an entry to the Solihull Fairtrade Trail for Fairtrade Fortnight. Make sure to find out more by looking at the attached poster. 

Here we have a photo of a brick wall and some slabs...ok, thanks for sharing! However, this is the beginning of our up and coming plastic bottle greenhouse! We are so grateful to our parent helps that made this possible. 

We would like to make a heartfelt thank you to Noah's dad for putting down the slabs...especially as they were donated (recycled) and were different sizes and depths! You've done a fabulous job!

Keep an eye out for the next stage!

Nellie, in Year Two, regularly brings in eco books that she has created at home. She includes some very important information so we have decided to share her work with you all.

At Woodlands, we encourage our children to develop a positive impact in their local community regarding the environment. It makes us incredibly proud when they not only achieve this, but also bring in their work, that they have created in their own time, to show their accomplishments.

Lauren, in Year One, Has created the following work that she has very kindly agreed to share.

We want to thank Lauren for being eco friendly and cleaning up the area.

So, we asked Lauren:

Why did you want to do litter picking?

"I wanted to do the litter picking because I like to look after the environment"

Why do you want to help the environment?

"Because it helps the earth."

Well done Lauren! You are a fabulous eco role-model!

Frog or Toad?

Woodlands' children love learning about animals and biodiversity so imagine our surprise to find a toad in our school garden! How do we know it's a toad and not a frog? Could you find out the different features?

We have asked the Year Two class to give him a name...look out for the decision!

Reading for Eco Pleasure

As you will be aware, at Woodlands we pride ourselves in offering as many reading opportunities as possible. With this in mind, we have now installed a brand new Eco Book Corner for our eager readers which offers Eco related reading material linking to the Eco School topics. Year Two have made their own Eco non-fiction books to help others understand the importance to recycle, repair, reduce and re-use.

Welcome back to our Eco School page!

We all hope that you had a great Summer break! Whilst we were away, the school garden carried on and continued to grow. The mixture of weather seemed to suit our garden as many of the vegetables have grown beautifully. There are photos on here that show the garden at the beginning...what a difference! Some of our vegetables have started to flower, such as the cauliflower. However, we will let nature do what nature does best and leave them to go to seed where we will collect the seeds for next time. In the meantime, the bees can enjoy the pollen. Hopefully, some of those seeds will fall naturally and grow. Our Eco Bees will harvest the lavender and make something creative and the vegetables have been given to the school kitchen to add to the children's meals.

Eco School Green Flag Award

Our Eco Bees celebrating the achievement of gaining our Eco School Green Flag Award. We will be flying the flag with pride!

Our reading pea tepee has been created to offer a lovely place to get shelter and read in a natural environment. They could also pick the odd pod if they get peckish! We will be adding some exciting and interesting books in the wooden house.

Scarecrow Competition

To celebrate National Children's Gardening Week in May, we decided to have a Scarecrow Competition. The idea was to create them using recycled materials...they stepped up to the challenge and they didn't disappoint!

New School Eco Garden

As an Eco School, we want to encourage the children in Woodlands to understand and appreciate how vegetables and fruit are grown from seed to harvest. We have created our new garden so that they have a wonderful learning experience with growing food and getting their hands really dirty!

The materials used were all considered with being eco-friendly in mind. We created the beds by recycling roof slates for the borders. The wood chips were dropped off to us from a tree that was cut on the same road. The plastic used to go under the gravel (to be put down at a later date) is old compost bags that were donated. We are using the no dig method by laying old cardboard down and covering with compost as digging the ground releases carbon and damages the microbiome in the soil. We ordered a bulk delivery of compost rather than use compost in bags and we have been donated a water butt from a parent (to be added to the greenhouse when built)...phew! 

As parents are not able to visit our school, here is our Eco School display board that the children love to add their work on to.

Earth Day - 22nd April 2021

This week, we had a whole school assembly regarding Earth Day and how we can use our School Values to help our environment. The children were asked that if they had any ideas that they could have their work added here. 

Zac and Maddy made this lovely picture of a whale in the deep, blue sea surrounded by plastic and rubbish. Zac said that he drew a whale because they are his favourite sea animal and he wasn't happy about there being litter in the sea. Zac said 'people need to stop putting litter in the sea!' We have to agree with him.

The children had a virtual whole school assembly on how our school values can help them to be problem solvers regarding the world they live in. During the assembly it was suggested that they have a go at 'How Much Do You Know About Planet Earth' from BBC Newsround. How well do you know your planet? Find the link below.

Here are some pre-made seed pots made from using toilet and/or kitchen roll holders. They are great for planting outside on in larger pots without disturbing the roots. They are so easy to make and are a great activity for the children to make. 

Take a look at the video to find out how to make them!

Biodiversity

As you will remember, we had a Just One Tree day to raise money to plant trees around the world to help with climate change. We now have the certificate! Lots of small actions make a big difference!

As you can see in the photo, Miss Harris (Eco Lead) has made a start by adding the lettuce and celery bases to water. Next step will be to add them to compost. Miss Harris is also trying to grow roots on purple broccoli too!

Waste 

It's getting closer to Spring which is all about regrowth and new beginnings. On our recent newsletter we mentioned growing vegetables using ones that we have bought from the supermarket to eat. We can cut and come again with some vegetables and to illustrate this, below is a video to show which work best. This is an excellent learning opportunity for children to find out about our food, how it grown, waste etc.

Just One Tree Day

Woodlands are very proud to be taking part in a tree planting scheme called Just One Tree. This non profit organisation plants trees in selected areas around the world. Woodlands are helping by having a dress in Autumnal colours to raise money. Please take a look at the link for more information.

Plastic Bottle Greenhouse

We are currently collecting plastic bottles so that we can make a greenhouse by recycling plastic bottles. 

Crisp packet Collection

In collaboration with our School Council, Woodlands are proud to be part of the campaign to collect crisp packets to produce blankets and bags for the homeless. This is a fantastic and innovative way to use non recyclable waste and avoid using landfill. They have created bright and visible posters for everyone to see where the collection point is held.

Well done School Council for choosing an eco-friendly project!

This is an illustration created, at home, by one of our Eco Council members to show the Ten Topics for Eco School:

Global Citizenship, Water, Waste, Litter, School Grounds, Healthy Living, Energy, Biodiversity, Marine, Transport

Lia stated 'My mummy and Daddy were helping me select the photos to draw. My daddy drew the umbrella as it was a bit tricky'. I think we can all agree that they worked very well together to make a fabulous poster!

This suggestion box was made at home by one of our Eco Council members. The box is situated under the hall Eco display board and is there for both the school children and their families to use to forward eco ideas to the team.

Neeva stated, 'I used paper from the recycling bin, I really enjoyed making it'

We think she did an excellent job!

Plastic Free July

It's Plastic Free July and there is a website that can help you with the challenge of reducing your plastic usage. Take a look and see if you can give it a go!

https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/

World Rainforest Day

Today it's World Rainforest Day. We all understand the importance the rainforests are for the planet's health. Find out more by taking a look at the following link:

https://worldrainforestday.org/resources/

A message from our Eco council

An Eco Council member, from Reception, has an important message to share with you. 

Gardening

With Spring turning into Summer have any of you been growing plants in your garden? If so, have you chosen to grow flowers or vegetables/fruit? . Whether you are an old hand or it's a new experience, there's a fabulous gardener who grows fruit and veg using a no dig method. Whenever we dig the ground we disturb the carbon, nutrients, microbes and creatures that reside in the soil. If you would like to know more, please take a look at the above link:

Here is a lovely piece of work from James. 

More amazing work made for World Oceans day!

World Ocean's Day

Wraparound have created some amazing Rainbow fish to show their understanding of the oceans and our environment...well done!

World Oceans' Day

As you will probably all know it's WOD today so to help with your home learning, we have added some WOD links for you to look at and learn more.

https://encounteredu.com/teacher-resources/oceans-for-beginners-x-curric-ages-5-7

https://encounteredu.com/partners/common-seas-ocean-plastics-academy

If you do any activities, please send photo as we'd love to add them to our Eco School page!

Father's day

Father's day is just around the corner so why not think about buying or making eco friendly gifts! Here is an example of some gifts:

https://moralfibres.co.uk/eco-friendly-ethical-fathers-day-gift-ideas/

https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/fathers-day/inspiration/eco-heroes

Homemade cards would help to save waste so be creative and have a go at making a personalised card.

At Woodlands, we take Eco issues very seriously and we are very lucky to have Eco Councillors within our school, who meet regularly to discuss relevant and important ecological issues. We are always thinking of ways that we can help minimize the impact on our environment on a local and global scale. 

We participate in the Eco Schools programme which provides ideal means for fostering environmental awareness in the entire school in a way that links to many curriculum subjects. The primary aim of the Eco-Schools programme is to educate and empower young people to make positive decisions and become change makers for an environmentally sustainable world.

We enjoy working on the ten Eco Schools topics; Marine, Water, Biodiversity, Energy, Global Citizenship, Waste, Healthy Living, Transport, School Grounds and Litter.

HOME LEARNING

Attached below,is  a list of activities based on our ten Eco topics, that you can do at home with your grown ups. 

https://www.allaboardforglobalgoals.com/en-us

Below, is a link to some ECO challenges that you can try with your family!

LOCAL ECO ACTIVITIES FOR FAMILIES

Friends of Shirley Park Litter Pickers! 

Want to help keep your local park clean and litter-free?

This monthly session takes place on the first Saturday of each month and the meeting point is by the War Memorial, Asda side of the park, at 2.30pm. All  equipment is provided free of charge.