Eastburn Junior and Infant School

At the very edge of Bradford district, Eastburn Junior and Infant school is surrounded by moorland rising up steeply on each side, a beautiful location and ideal for spotting wildlife! The school contacted Habitat Heroes in September 2010 with a challenge – could we help them return their pond area to its former glory?

The school were very keen on outdoor education and had already created a wonderful school garden which was being put to extremely good use. The pond area was the next step; many years ago a pond had been created in a fenced off ‘wild’ area, but over the years had sprung leaks and was now practically dry, if rather overgrown with yellow flag iris and rushes! The wild garden around it was now practically inaccessible due to overgrown thickets of blackthorn and uneven ground.

The school asked Habitat Heroes to run some full-day sessions to help them restore this exciting wild area. First, a consultation session to find out from the children what they would like to use the space for, what was there already and what they might need to change. Using these ideas, a concept plan was drawn up – the children were very excited about having a pond in school! And so, work began…

The first ‘on the ground’ activity was carried out by a team of teachers, parents and children, who gave up a Saturday to repair the pond. This involved scooping everything from in the existing pond space (including dozens of frogs!), replacing the liner and re-planting a certain amount of the pond plants in a new boggy patch. At the same time, others were busy cutting back undergrowth and tree branches to make the space more accessible.

Dipping from the new pond

Habitat Heroes then worked with children to start re-planting the space, which was greatly helped along by the installation of a stone path, patio area, seating and raised bed by contractors brought in by the school. The children were able to turn the raised bed into a sensory planter, created a willow entrance tunnel over the path, and sit at their new tables to study pond life fished out with nets. They also worked extremely hard to remove weeds from the new wildflower meadow area, which they then planted up and sowed with wildflower seeds.

Planting the wildflower meadow at Eastburn
The space is nearing completion now, with just a few tweaks to be performed – more planting,  bird watching facilities such as a hide, feeders and houses – to make the area a perfect little wildlife haven.