October 15: Edgar Sewter Primary School visited Halesworth Millennium Green – inspired by the Halesworth Climate Action Conference
As part of their current learning
about ecosystems – all 90 of Edgar
Sewter’s Year 3 and 4 children visited
Halesworth Millennium Green as
three separate classes on 15th and
21st October. Assisted by Millennium
Green volunteers, the children
explored the Community Orchard and
learnt to recognise the leaves of
apples, pears, sweet chestnuts and
oaks. They also practised getting
sweet chestnuts without hurting
themselves and – coinciding with
Apple Day on Oct 21st met just a few
of the 2500 plus varieties of apple
grown in the UK.
The community’s harvesting of fruit this year
has been so successful and thorough that we
had to prop apples and pears up in the trees to show the children which are which!
The children also investigated the invertebrates and small fish living in one of the dykes on the Green and by conducting mini-botanical surveys, learnt about the conservation care of
the species-rich meadows.
The visits coincided with considerable action
on the White Bridge replacement project so the
groups saw big diggers in action and heard
about the very careful and successful
conservation measures to look after the water
voles and their habitats.
The children were very engaged, confident and
keen to make good use of this learning
opportunity out of school, and from the Green’s
point of view it was great to introduce so many
local children to this open space which is
theirs to enjoy, explore and care about.
Huge thanks go to the Green’s volunteers who coped so enthusiastically – Gillie
Coulson, Anne Emerson Smith, Jim Green, Sue Green, Sal Jenkinson and Judy Powell.
Nicky Rowbottom