Plant Power: Cadets help plant over 900 trees at school

Working towards their CCF Community Engagement Award as well as a John Muir Award, the cadets in conjunction with the School’s Estates & Grounds team, have ensured that the school is well on target to exceed the anticipated number of trees planted.

Shannon P helps pot an oak for the next planting season

Cadets such as Shannon P in Third Form have helped plant over 525 native trees around school and potted a further 250 trees ready to be planted in October. The School’s Estates & Grounds team have planted a further 400 trees in key areas to encourage re-naturalisation and growth around the Perthshire School campus.

Their combined efforts have helped create biodiverse copses around parts of the 53 acres dedicated to rewilding through the Northwoods Rewilding Project which Strathallan is partnered with through Scotland: The Big Picture.

53 of Strathallan's 153 acres has been dedicated to rewilding

When asked why she felt it was important, Shannon said, “Personally I feel that planting trees around school is key in saving our environment and keeping our ecosystem as healthy as possible. By planting native trees we provide essential food and shelter for all the wildlife in school and keep it clean and green. It also gives students like me who have planted some of these trees a legacy at school as hopefully they will survive for hundreds of years and I hope to come back and see them flourish long after I leave.”

Mr Leslie Kent, Biology Teacher who leads John Muir Award at Strathallan said, “I’m immensely proud of our pupils and how quickly they’ve got involved and wanted to help plant trees. If a mature tree absorbs around 10-40kg of carbon per year and assuming 80% of the trees survive, just planting 1000 trees would eventually be absorbing 8,000-32,000kg of carbon a year. That’s the equivalent of 20,000-80,000 miles travelled in a standard petrol car. Planting native trees is definitely to be encouraged in all schools, parks and gardens.”