Pupils at St John Baptist High School rolled up their sleeves and got back to nature recently as part of Keep Wales Tidy’s ‘Have a Wild Weekend for Wales’ campaign.
In partnership with volunteers from Groundwork over 30 students and staff at the Aberdare school worked tirelessly over two days creating a pond area to attract wildlife to their recently established garden.
With the aid of a £250 B&Q voucher the group was able to purchase pond materials, tools and plants with which to construct their wildlife haven. They set about digging, weeding and planting native shrubs as well as taking the first steps to cultivating a vegetable garden.
The students were then treated to an exciting visit from Aberdare Fire Service who filled the new pond with the station’s water bowser.
Their exertions were part of a wider effort that saw groups from across Wales attempting to improve local biodiversity by undertaking small projects to benefit native species.
Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Eudine Hanagan, said: “The young people of St John’s Baptist High School have demonstrated a real conscientiousness about their local plants and wildlife.
“It’s great to see people from across the County Borough and beyond getting involved with these projects and spreading their enthusiasm for such an important issue throughout communities”
Dr Susan Mitchell, Head Teacher of St John Baptist High School said “It was great to see so many pupils and volunteers involved in this project. ‘Have a Wild Weekend for Wales’ has enabled us to make a huge improvement to the biodiversity of our school grounds and has supported our Eco Group in working towards the prestigious Eco Schools Silver Flag award”.
