Year 7s Plant Trees to mark High School Start

A couple of years ago some of Northgate’s School Council decided they wanted the Year 7 tutor groups to plant some trees when they arrived at school, not only for environmental reasons but also to mark their time and journey through the school. Then the pandemic stopped us in our tracks.

Fast forward several months to June 2021 and our Earth Summit Team met to put together their goals and action plan for the time ahead. This project idea was raised again and all were in favour. So, plans were put in place for this to be carried out as the new Year 7s arrived at Northgate in September.

We were able to obtain 7 four-year-old oak trees from a kind member of the community, grown from acorns from Scotland. Fred and Lewis, part of the team, spent time at break time, lunch time and after school making special plaques to commemorate the tree planting. This involved making use of an old pallet, using the laser engraver, metal work and finishing off with a Danish oil. Thank you to Mr Mottley, Mr Logan, Mr MacDonald and Miss Theobald for assisting with this part of the project.

Then the time came to plant the trees. On two, very sunny days in October, the tutor groups headed out to the field to plant their trees. Excitedly, two students from each tutor group planted their tree, ably assisted by the Earth Summit Team, tutors and Head of Year, Mrs Graves. A big thank you to Miss Theobald and Mr MacDonald for digging all the holes and supporting the project. Everyone is looking forward to seeing their trees grow during their five years at Northgate.