Ysgol Syr Eifion Wyn - Porthmadog

On the 2nd of February the Meirionnydd Oakwoods team spent the day at Ysgol Syr Eifion Wyn in Porthmadog. The school has been recently moved to a new site by the leisure centre, although the school has a large playing field there aren’t many trees around. The oakwoods team came in to the school to help plant 30 oak trees, and each tree was grown locally within 5 miles of the school. Here are some photos of our day planting,

Ysgol y Ganllwyd

November saw Ysgol y Ganllwyd visiting our community woodland over in Glasdir to do a bit of tree planting. Even though it was very cold, everyone enjoyed themselves and planted quite a few oaks

Uned Iaith

The Welsh language unit from Ysgol y Gader in Dolgellau came out for a visit to one of our oakwoods. We had a marvellous time out in the woods but with a but of a difference… although we were looking at the oakwoods and learning about them, we were taking the opportunity to learn the welsh names and terms for the different plants and trees.

Eisteddfod

August saw the National Eisteddfod visit the Faenol Estate near Bangor. The project was showcased at the Forestry Commission’s stand and proved to be a very popular exhibition with many people staying to have a chat while their children had a go at willow weaving.

Christmas

Pupils from Ysgol Tan y Grisiau got more than they bargained for when they went up to Coed Cymerau isaf to plant some trees. None other that Santa himself turned up to give them a hand!

Glasdir planting day with Ysgol y Gader

Nathan Sutcliffe is a year 7 student at ysgol y gader, last year he attended the United Nations’ Children's World Summit for the Environment in Japan. Whilst there, each child made a promise to plant enough trees in their home country to cancel out the pollution made from the flight to Japan, so Nathan approached the Meirionnydd oakwoods project to see if we could work together.

Nathan and project ranger Lea Hughes worked together and organised a planting day at the newly designated community woodland at Glasdir. The whole of year 7 were given a presentation by Lea and Nathan, and then the whole year was taken out to the site to get busy and get planting a new oakwood and a big of Rhody bashing!

Ysgol Maenofferen and the wolf

The vale of Ffestiniog is steeped in history and myth, Ysgol Maenofferen from Blaenau Ffestiniog undertook a project with the Meirionnydd oakwoods team to look at how the valley and the oakwoods have evolved over the years. The children visited the oakwoods of Maentwrog on the Ffestiniog Railway they spent the day out in the oakwoods and heard the different stories about the wolves in the valley. Inspired by their day out and the wolf sculpture the children spent the next day getting arty and making their own wolf masks out of willow.

Acorn collection with schools from Bala

A lovely sunny October day saw three schools Ysgol Ffridd y Llyn, Ysgol Bro Tryweryn and Ysgol Bro Tegid visit Coed y Brenin to take part in a seed collection day. Before gathering acorns and planting them in pots, the children pretended to be squirrels and hid acorns. At the end of the day the children had to remember where they had hidden their acorns, learning that the squirrel doesn’t always remember where it has hid them, leaving buried acorns to grow into Oak trees.

Ysgol y Clogau learn about ancient crafts

On October the 26th pupils from Ysgol y Clogau in Bontddu visited their community hall, and spent the morning with Rod and Helen Waterfield learning ancient crafts. The children learnt how to make baby besom brooms, willow wands and crowns, which they took home with them.

Corris Art and Habitat Project

The children from Corris school enjoyed a two day art project looking at the oakwoods habitat and the local dormouse colony. Look at the wonderful art project they created for their classroom - it's spectacular!

Get in touch with Project Ranger, Nicky Maysmor, if you would like your school to be involved in something similar!

Great Britain Forest Education Initiative

Nicky Maysmor, the Project Ranger, went to the Great Britain Forest Education Initiative "National Networking Day" which was held at Royal International Pavilion, Llangollen on the 26th September. It was a chance for Nicky to meet everyone involved in woodland education and to share ideas. Workshops such as "Woods for Turning" and "Woods for Conservation" took place throughout the day, which gave Nicky ideas for future education days - so watch out!

Seed Planting Day - Penybryn Primary School

On the 19th November Project Ranger Nicky Maysmor and Project Officer Rhydian Roberts went out to Penybryn Primary School to help the children plant some seed sticks, acorns and hazel nuts. Rhydian will be collecting the saplings to plant in Coed Ysgubor Wen, a new woodland recently bought by the Woodland Trust in the Dysynni Valley.

Dormouse Education and Planting Day

Many thanks to Jack Grasse who came out and helped Nicky teach a class from Ysgol Brithdir at about dormice and their habitat on the 9th November at Pantperthog. The children learnt all about this shy creature and helped with planting some hazel trees which are a favourite of dormice!

Seed Planting Day

The 20th November saw Nicky out and about again planting some seeds sticks, acorns and hazel nuts, but this time with Ysgol Carmel in Caernarfon. Another great day was had with the children who enjoyed learning about trees and the environment. Unfortunately we have no photos...