Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire

Magic Trees
Successful FEI application for Magic Wood including tree planting scheme with local schools and visits to wood and trade - led by Groundwork Hertfordshire, working with London North & East and Herts cluster groups. The Magic Wood project is an environmental education project focusing on the subject of 'wood as a resource’. The aim of the project is for 5 Groundwork project officers to deliver 4 workshops in 5 schools across Hertfordshire, which will address the importance of wood as a resource, the woodland ecosystem, bio-diversity and sustainability. The workshops will comprise both indoor and outdoor work, and will include tree planting sessions, as each school will have the opportunity to select up to 30 whips to plant as part of the project.

All of the 5 schools involved are primary schools, with 1 year 5 or 6 class picked from the school to be involved in the project. Three of the schools fall into the Watling Chase Community Forest. The 5 schools are as follows:
Belswains School, Hemel Hempstead
Oakmere School, Potters Bar
Colney Heath School, Colney Heath
Central Primary School, Watford
Streams wood School, Hatfield

Business Link
Another element of the project will be to link the school up with a local business/organisation related to the timber industry or woodland management. Links have been made with 4 businesses/organisations for the schools to visit on an afternoon field trip. The following links have been established:
Hatfield House -- the children will be shown how the woodland is managed
Harebreaks Woodland -- the children will be taken on a woodland trail by Conservation Officer from Watford Borough Council
Apsley Paper Trail -- children will be shown how to make paper
Countryside Management Service -- the children will be taken to a local woodland to be shown how & why trees are coppiced.




Wood by Design Challenge project
This Challenge is open to all key stage 4 Design and Technology students in the county to design and make a piece of 'furniture' (in the widest possible sense of the word).

The piece must be made primarily of timber or timber products, and must be designed for a public space, (no CD racks). The materials used must be from reliably sustainable sources as far as is possible. Also,the students design portfolio must demonstrate research into where timber comes from, and the issues around sustainable woodland management.

There were 160 students signed up to the Challenge last year, and the Finals Day, with judging and prize giving was held on the 24th June.

We are already making plans for running the Challenge again this year. When we have a chance to review what we have learned from this year, we intend to publish a report with a model project for others to use.