Preston school grows its forest with help from SPAR wholesaler James Hall

Pupils and staff at a Preston primary school have shown their environmental passion in spades by planting Christmas trees donated by SPAR wholesaler James Hall & Co.

The donation of the surplus SPAR festive firs to Sherwood Primary School in Fulwood follows the season of goodwill, and James Hall & Co. said they wanted to ensure the trees were put to good use.

Green-fingered children at the Sherwood jumped at the opportunity to add some fresh foliage to the school grounds after a number of trees were recently lost to Ash dieback.

Sherwood, which gained its Forest School status three years ago, places a real emphasis on outdoor learning, and work is underway across the school grounds to improve the environment and education of pupils.

Year 5 pupil Zakariyya Adam,10, said: “Planting trees helps the environment, and helps everything in that environment from animals to bugs. We have a lot of trees at home as well, and we grow fruit including strawberries. I like the satisfaction of seeing it grow.”

Freya Houghton, also 10 and in Year 5, said: “I wanted to be involved in planting the trees as I love the outdoors and I help plant flowers in the garden at my grandad’s. It’s fun and I find it a good way to relax. It is also a nice feeling when you have finished and you see all the colour.”

Year 5 teacher and Forest School Leader, Michael Stanton, said: “We’re grateful to SPAR and James Hall & Co. Ltd for the donation of Christmas Trees and they will go a long way to enhancing the school surroundings after the recent loss of some of our Ash trees.

“As a country we don’t look after nature as much as we ought to, and our children are spending less and less time in the outdoors. Here at Sherwood, we have dedicated days of education in the outdoors for skills development to improve this.This is boosted further as the outdoors runs as theme across all curriculum areas, and we also have our extracurricular school Eco Club.”

Tom Murphy, Marketing Manager at James Hall & Co. Ltd, said: “It’s fantastic to see the children at Sherwood are so aware of the environment around them and that they were so keen to help with the digging and planting of the Christmas Trees.

“Nurturing our neighbourhoods and passionate about local are two of SPAR’s brand pillars, so I am delighted that we have been able to support Sherwood Primary School’s green agenda.”