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By Andrew Martin, Director of Outdoor Work.
At the heart of Outdoor Work is a deep respect for the environment.
Coppicing Week (8–17 January) was a powerful demonstration of our community working together to protect it.
Coppicing is the traditional practice of cutting trees back to encourage healthy regrowth and support woodland wildlife.
It not only helps the health of our woodland and its biodiversity, but also provides sustainable materials that can be used in lessons. These materials are used in a variety of ways, including woven hazel fencing, stakes and binders for hedge laying, and sweet pea supports.
All students, from Nursery up to and including Block 4, took part.
Children were taught why and how we coppice, learning to harvest materials responsibly and to judge their best use. Nothing was wasted. Binders and stakes were prepared, dead hedging was created, and misshapen pieces were saved for charcoal making.
Pupils also learned that cutting trees is not always inherently harmful.
Coppicing invigorates woodland, allows light to reach the forest floor, and benefits soil biodiversity and plant life. This area will now be left for seven to ten years until the next crop is ready, demonstrating long-term care and patience.
‘The youngest Bedalians tackling coppicing with joyful enthusiasm whilst older children, including siblings from the prep, worked around them, was one of those special moments of connection - working together for the good of the community of woodland species,’ said Francesca, Teacher of Outdoor Work in the Pre-prep.
Coppicing Week was a hit with Prep students too.
‘The children from the Prep really enjoyed it, especially the opportunity to meet staff and pupils from the senior school,’ said Ryan Walsh, Head of Outdoor Work in the Prep. ‘We will be revisiting the woods for our annual Bluebell Woods Week in the Summer term, and we are looking forward to seeing how the area has developed.’
This is the first time we have co-ordinated all of our Outdoor Work lessons around the same topic and worked together on one large project.
Every single person, big and small, should be proud of what has been achieved in such a short space of time.
Huge thanks go to Stu Barilli, who put in an incredible shift this week in very challenging weather conditions, spending the week coordinating jobs with students as they arrived. Thank you also to Francesca, Ryan and Teresa for getting all of their students involved so enthusiastically, and finally to James from the Grounds Team for lending Stu the quad bike for the week!
By Andrew Martin, Director of Outdoor Work.
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