Pupils at a Blackburn school have been planting trees thanks to a partnership with the River Ribble Trust.

Newfield School is a multi-faith school maintained by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council that provides specialist education for children and young people aged two to 19.

Pupils at the school have a wide range of learning needs, including autism, complex medical needs and sensory impairments.

The school has been working to improve their outdoor spaces for the children, creating green spaces and planting trees and hedgerow on the grounds.

Deputy head teacher, Jenny Riley said: “Initially we planted 60 hedgerow trees kindly donated by the Tree Council.

"Subsequently, we have joined the Young Tree Champion scheme, and have been given another 90 hedgerow whips, tech kits and access to free training webinars and resources to support our pupils learning - all from the Tree Council.

“Young Tree Champions is about getting our pupils out into the environment and doing things to help improve the environment and pupils' understanding and awareness for the natural world.”

This week with the support from the River Ribble Trust, the school has been planting more trees on the grounds.

Jenny said: “The children will benefit from learning how trees grow, the different types of trees and shrubs that we can enjoy and will make use of leaves, sticks and reeds to create art and craft work.

“We have held an open-air art exhibition in the summer of 2021 and look forward to an enhanced trail space to create the art journey, displaying children’s work.”

The school is also taking part in the Tree Council ‘Young Tree Champion’ scheme which is helping to get pupils out into the environment and do things to help improve awareness of the natural world. Eventually the school is hoping to achieve the Young Tree Champion status of a Beacon School.

Jenny added: “All of our children were invited to engage in the tree planting sessions in some way and some of our older pupils will be doing this as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.

“We were delighted to welcome Christi and the team from River Ribble Trust, along with volunteers linked to school, to make our fantastic school even greener and better.”