A HEADTEACHER has praised her award-winning children who have thrown themselves into environmentally friendly projects.

The green-fingered pupils of Lewtrenchard School have rewilded a neglected area of the schools, learning about climate change and the importance of attracting insects.

For this they won a ‘Primary Awards for Green Education’ award.

They also turned green entrepeneurs - learning a wide range of personal, business and social skills involved in making and marketing seed bombs to fund a school visit.

Liz Davy, head teacher, said: ‘These nature projects have really gripped the imagination of the children. They have been really receptive to the concept of climate change and how important it is to restore wild native plants, to not only enhance our school, but to also attract insects. They also planted fruit trees which the insects pollinate.

‘The children got really excited about the idea of teacher Ginette Sutherland who came up with the idea of seed bombs.

‘She led them on the design and make the bombs which sew wild flowers. It needed them to use lots of new skills to research the seeds and design bright labels to atract customers.’

She said they called and persuaded businesses, like Launceston’s Coffee Pot, to display and sell them. It was a ‘huge success’ and they raised hundreds of pounds to help fund their trip.

Fox Tor class also wrote to a native seed company who donated the seeds and used plastic-free packaging and drew their own labels.

The children used set ratios of compost, dried clay and seed, and let them dry before packing.

They used a podcast, phone calls and facebook to market the seed bombs.

The cycle of planting is due to restart to recreate the colour of last spring and summer with flowers attracting bees and butterflies.

Ms Sutherland said: ‘The children also considered the selling price, quantity of seed bombs in a bag, projected sale numbers and had a fund raising target.’

The rewilding project is part of the school’s outdoor learning provision. Grass around the edges and corners of the school field have been left to grow as meadow grass, encouraging the bee, butterflies and another pollinators and insects, as well as providing habitats for hedgehogs, mice and voles.

The children planted large tubs of wildflowers which should seed in the meadow grasses and grow naturally this spring.

Another copse of trees has been planted with wildflower seed ready for this year.

The children also take on after-school tasks to keep the wilded area and the whole school looking good. They are particularly interested in the cameras watching the bird boxes.

Mia, 10, said: ‘It’s really interesting to see insects and learn how important they are to the trees and flowers and fruit. It’s exciting using the cameras to see birds in the bird boxes and feeders like woodpeckers and bullfinches.’