Trees for Survival

On Thursday 23rd June a group of 26 Year 8 students hopped on a bus and drove all the way out to Clevedon to plant trees. Trees for survival is a programme our school has been part of for years, where we are given 1000 tiny, baby saplings to look after and grow in September and then take a group to plant them when they’ve grown the following June.

This year we had a fantastic day. We couldn’t have asked for better weather; it had rained the previous weekend so the ground was nice and soft, but the day itself was bright and sunny. Although we all started rugged up, by lunchtime we were hot and sweaty from all our work.

We planted five different types of native trees to help with erosion near a waterway. Keeping this waterway clean helps the whole city as it eventually flows out to the sea. The roots of the trees will help to filter the water and keep it clean, and the trees themselves will store carbon and release fresh oxygen into the atmosphere. 

It was a long day of hard work, rewarded at the end with kai from the land owner and the satisfaction of seeing all our work pay off in a beautifully planted new site of native bush. With 818 trees planted, it was the most any group has managed in one day according to the land owner!