Forest Row Community Pre-School joins Ge t Greening Britain Campaign

Forest Row Community Pre-School is helping the children become green-fingered by planting a new conservation area and wildlife garden at the Pre-School. We are passionate about helping the local wildlife and teaching the children about caring for our World.

The project is part of this year’s Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Britain in Bloom, the UK’s largest community gardening campaign. The theme of this year’s Bloom campaign, Greening Grey Britain for Wildlife, will see community groups around the UK organising gardening activities to boost biodiversity.

We are in the process of adapting an old space into a beautiful, green and wild learning environment. This will benefit the local wildlife as well as the children in our care. The children are taking an active role in this transformation and are keen to join the challenge.

As a registered charity, we rely mainly on voluntary donations. Our families and the local Wyevale garden centre have been very supportive of our cause, we are still seeking further funds to ensure the continuity of the space and to improve our green spaces further in the future.

The UK Over the past 50 years has seen declines in nearly two-thirds of our plant and animal species*, and with habitat loss one of the reasons behind this, gardening for wildlife is more important than ever. This is one of many being organised across the UK to promote the positive impacts of community gardening in providing food and habitat for wildlife.

Jade Turnbull-Allen, Supervisor said: “We believe that by teaching children respect for the environment from a young age we can make a real difference for the future. The children benefit and learn far better in an outdoor environment, it is a strong part of our ethos. We are lucky to have a talented gardener as a staff member who is teaching us all how we can take part. The opportunity to support wildlife growth is very exciting to the children, they cannot wait to see some new visitors to our garden and pond.”

Andrea Van Sittart, RHS Head of Community Outreach, said: “Gardens and communal green spaces provide vital food sources and habitat for a diverse range of wildlife. Bloom community groups across the UK plant over 170,000 trees a year and millions of perennials, shrubs and bulbs. This year we’ll be transforming grey spaces into green places. Anyone can get involved and make a difference for wildlife by choosing nectar and pollen-rich plants and keeping gardens green.”

*State of Nature Report, 2016