This summer, we launched the second round of our Nature Recovery Challenge Fund grant. The applications listed on this page really stood out! All these projects will have an excellent impact on nature as well as benefitting those involved in the project too.

South Molton Community Primary School

The school have created a nature plan which features creating and maintaining a micro nature reserve within the school boundaries. This micro reserve will consist of pockets of habitat that promote wildlife to the school. The project will maintain habitats including a pond and its surrounding area, a forest, and an area of field where they hope to plant small native trees.

South Molton Community Primary School are collaborating with Lucy Willans at Appledore Primary School who have also received a grant from us for their work on a micro nature reserve (more info below!).

The school community are going to clearly benefit from management of these spaces for nature. Keep up the awesome work! 

Appledore Primary School

In the school grounds, the area of specific interest for this project include a grassed area, a pond and a woodland. The grassed area is used for growing veg, other plants and two areas of orchard. A fox and a badger have been spotted here too!

The pond habitat is of particular interest as they have already spotted a large number of newts which they'd like to further support by providing a better habitat. As the pond dries up in the summer and the pupils cannot safely access it, the idea is to re-line the pond and add safe, planked walkways. This will allow the pupils to have safe access to the area while letting space outside of the boundary to grow and thrive.

By establishing a micro reserve, it will promote focus, self-motivation and pride within the children's study of science, geography, history, literacy and maths.

The schools 250 pupils, families, teaching staff and other community members will all benefit from the development of this space.

We look forward to working with both South Molton Community Primary School and Appledore Primary School on their micro nature reserves! 

The Park Community School

This nature plan covers an unused field owned by the school. They have already had the field surveyed, and had a number of suggestions on how to improve the area for nature recovery.

They are going to transform this unused space into a wildflower meadow and continue to maintain it for years to come.

The space is going to be managed by the site team and curriculum groups who are undertaking units in horticulture, environmental studies and nature.

The school are also having a go at growing at growing devon whitebeam from seed, a Devon Special Species!

We're looking forward to seeing how the Park Community School progress with this project! 

If you've been inspired by the work of these three schools, why don't you create a nature plan for your green space? Applications are open for the next round of the Community Nature Recovery Challenge Fund until March 31st 2022. Find out more and submit your application! 

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