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Colby Primary School, near Aylsham has won the
North Norfolk Environment Awards for three years in a row.
Now the pupils want to share their love of nature
with others as well. They will be writing a diary for the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Norfolk
website and will also be making three wildlife films to be shown
at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Wild In Your Garden event in Norwich's Chapelfield Gardens
in May.
"We are an eco school and have an eco flag in
the school hall," said 10-year-old James.
"Our whole grounds are used to help the environment
and there are lots of activities for us to take part in during our
lunch hour," he added.
It is the school's 125th
anniversary this year.
"Our school is out in the country. There are five
classes and only 133 children aged from 4 to 11," said nine-year-old
Bronte, who is chair of the school's eco-committee.
Gardening club
"We have a garden where we grow plants and last
year grew lettuces as well," said 10-year-old Holly.
"We have our own gardening club and one of the
pupils is head gardener. Each house in the school has its own plot
and there is even a competition for the best garden," she added.
The pupils grow tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries
in their green house and there is also an outside vegetable garden
with squashes, pumpkins and beans.
"We have a forest area with fruit trees. In the
summer we can sit outside on the benches and eat our dinner in the
garden," said 11-year-old Harry.
"We also have a willow tunnel and arbour," said
Bronte, "It's great for the little ones."
Chicken run
The chicken run |
It's not just gardening at the school, there is
also a new weather station and even a bird club.
"Four people feed and water the birds in the aviary
each day," said eight-year-old Christopher.
"There are cockatiels, zebra finches, bourkes parakeets,
love birds and java sparrows," he added.
There is a chicken run too with rare breeds.
"We got a new shed last year," said Harry, "and
we think it would make a good bird hide so we can watch the blue-tits,
robins, sparrows and greenfinches that come into the grounds."
James told us about the school pond. "It's good
in science week as we can go pond dipping and find lots of bugs,"
he said.
Inside the main building is a nature table where
children are encouraged to bring in things such as
shells, insects, a wasp's nest and a bird's skull.
Changes in nature
We will be hearing more about the nature table
and a regular update on phenology in the coming months. Phenology
is about looking at the changes in nature during the year.
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Showing off the school's weather station
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One of the most famous phenologists was a man called
Robert Marsham who lived in the mid-1700s.
Robert lived down the road from Colby Primary School
and the pupil's recordings will see if anything has changed in the
last few hundred years.
Colby has done so many things for the environment
that they are now called on for their expertise.
Harry told us recently the How Hill Trust asked
them to visit and talk about their work.
"How Hill does lots of environmental education
and wanted to see what they could learn from us. I then did a powerpoint
presentation to other teachers in Norfolk about our visit," he explained.
"I've only been at this school for a little while
but I think it's really good," said nine-year-old Harriet.
"The best thing is there's no bullying here. The
older children all look after the younger ones with our buddy scheme
and we even have playground angels. It's a really busy school, and
there is always something to do."
See
the school's nature gallery here
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