A Step by Step Guide to Engaging Your Local School in the Woodland Trust's Tree for All Project - the Hands On Version
To make this a guide to contacting schools realistic, we ran trials at
schools we had no previous contact with, to show you that even if you
don’t know the school, it's easy!
Step 1 - Contact the School.
Ask who you should speak to about helping
the school to plant some trees for FREE. This is easy if your child
attends the school: just ask their teacher who to talk to about
planting trees for free in their grounds. If you don’t know who to
talk to, phone the school and talk to the receptionist.
Their attitude
to talking to people can vary hugely! If the response isn’t warm at
first, don’t be put off; tell them your name, explain that you are involved in
promoting a scheme organised by the Woodland Trust that supports
schools in planting trees in their grounds, for free, and you would
like to know who best to speak to would be. It
may be the head teacher or the person who runs the school gardening or
science club.
In my experience, they all welcome you as soon as they know
you want to help their school and it's free!
Step 2 - Talking to the Relevant Person
Talk to the relevant teacher or staff member who is interested in the
tree planting project. Ask them if they have heard about the Woodland
Trusts ‘Tree For All’ project. Tell them about it. Explain that it
is a free project which enables schools to get a free pack of 30 trees
or 30 hedge trees, which they can plant in their grounds.
Tell them it is easy to apply and give them the website details.
Explain that you live locally, are reasonably knowledgeable about or
interested in trees, and (if you are) that you would be able to help them plant the trees or
advise them where is best to plant them. Arrange a visit to the school
if they want one.
Tell the about the free downloadable tree
planting advice leaflets and teaching resources the Woodland Trust
provides. For information on the scheme check out:
http://www.treeforall.org.uk/JoinIn/AsASchool/.
We have provided an example letter
here, that you can use should you wish, if you would prefer to make
initial contact by letter instead of by telephone. We'd recommend you
call first though, just to find out the best person to address the
letter to.
Step 3 - Visit the School
Take some information with you. You could print off the information
from the Woodland Trust website on tree planting as an example for the
school of what information and support they can obtain from the
website.
Before the meeting ask the teacher to get any information or
existing plans for the development of the school grounds ready, so
together you can plan where to plant the trees. Ask the teacher to
invite whoever will be relevant or is involved with the management of
the school grounds to the meeting. It may be the grounds manager or
gardener.
Walk the site and find out the following:
- where does the teacher think they should be planted?
-
what does the school use the grounds for?
-
what will the school use the grounds for in the future? (Where would the trees would be safe from future developments?)
-
do any areas flood often?
-
where would shade trees be useful?
-
where would a thick 8m or thin 16m hedge be useful?
-
does the school have a nature area? (The trees in the hedge pack are
great for wildlife and could be planted around the nature area or near
a window for bird watching.)
When you have answers to these questions it should be easy to decide where to plant the trees or hedge. Get in touch with us if you want more advice, confidence or reassurance.
If they want help planting the trees in November, provisionally book
the date you will go back to plant the trees with the pupils.
During your visit, you could also offer to help the school apply
online. Go to the website
http://www.treeforall.org.uk/JoinIn/AsASchool/ and enter the school
details.
Step 4 - Let The Druid Network Know
When you have a school signed up let us know! Email us. Then we will
send The Woodland Trust £40 to support the tree planting in the
school.
Step 5 - Put it in Writing
Put all the details in writing for them, so they know the date you will
come to plant the trees. You could use the template here.
Let them
know what equipment they will need to borrow or what you will bring to
help. Let them know when to expect the trees to arrive (they will come
through the post in November, but the dates may vary according to how warm or cold the weather is). Make sure they have your contact
details so when the trees arrive in November they can call you for help
with the planting.
Step 6 - In Early November, Prepare for Planting the Trees!
Call the school and ask to speak to the teacher you met and remind them
the trees will be arriving soon. Double check they have the date in
their diary that you will be coming to help plant the trees. Clarify
how many pupils you will work with, the age of the pupils, what
equipment they have, etc. Make sure they have your contact details and
ask them to let you know when the trees arrive.
Step 7 - Plant the Trees!
Return to the school for the fun part! Plant the trees with the pupils and be sure to take some photos for the Network pages! Then let the Druid Network know, with an article and photos that inspire others to do the same ...
