Every Wednesday afternoon, boys who are sitting the International Baccalaureate head out into the local community to carry out meaningful and mutually beneficial volunteering. One of the groups alternate between helping to maintain Priory Country Park and increasing biodiversity at the school’s own Nature Reserve at Ickwell.
This week they contributed in a small way to humanity’s struggle against the climate change emergency by planting tree seeds. The seeds were collected from a range of species* growing on the reserve and will be left to germinate in compost for around 12 months before being planted-out around the reserve. It is important to use local, native species as imported ones can carry disease and pests, and are not always suitably adapted to local conditions. The global target is for 1.2 trillion trees to be planted and is considered by scientists to be the overwhelmingly most effective climate change solution. The boys were happy to be able to contribute to this global effort in a small, but meaningful, way.
*Species: Hornbeam/London plane/hawthorn/field maple/oak/blackthorn/spindle