Youngsters at Harbertonford Primary have been helping to improve local outdoor spaces for the benefit of themselves and the whole village.

Sue Ward, a member of the Friends of Harbertonford Park and Sustaninable Harbourne Valley, visited Kestrels class to talk about the parish council-approved tree project in the park, in an area renamed ‘Fruit Corner’.

Sue asked the children what they liked and disliked about the park, what food is good to eat, and what produce the community could grow itself.

The pupils examined and measured the space available in the park to work out how far apart the trees needed to be before using plant catalogues to make a list of trees they wanted to grow, and then creating large plans for the site.

The school has organised a planting event in the park in February 2022, and hope to add climbing plants and bulbs in the space set aside as the year progresses.

Youngsters at the school and their parents also recently gave up their Saturday morning to help improve the school’s outdoor spaces, thanks to organiser parent, Daisy Bewes.

The green team weeded and tidied the school’s roost area, planted some new wild flowers, dug out existing flower beds and replaced them with daffodil bulbs, and in the Forest School area cleared the brambles, dug over the raised beds and created a compost area for garden waste.

The school’s outdoor learning lead, Elena Pike, said: “It is so rewarding to see the children and families getting involved in projects that are centred around the environment, both in the school and in their wider community.

“We know that these issues are extremely important to our children because of their comments about and feedback after COP26 and are extremely grateful to the community to inviting us to play an active part in the play park redevelopment.

“Our thanks to the school green team are heartfelt. They have put us in a place that will allow us to take our outdoor learning to new levels.

“It is so powerful to see that the children will take their commitment to making our school and village a better place so seriously.”