Composting at Chestnut Lane
As part of our eco schools initiative we have increased our school composting. We are aiming to compost all of our fruit waste and most of our leaves. With over 20 trees around our playground this is quite a challenge. Three new compost bins were built after half term and teams of children have been busily filling them at lunch and break times. Mr. Rose has repaired and customised some old brooms to make them child size and these have proved a real hit with the children. (We could make use of more so if you have old brooms, broom heads or dustpans and brushes we would be glad to have them). The children are now actively involved in the recycling, have had great fun doing it and there is the added bonus that fewer leaves mean the playground will be less slippery.
Collecting fruit waste at break time in the playground has proved successful and the bin soon fills up with all those banana skins and apple cores so we have added two more compost cones to our existing two. We are adding shredded paper from the office to keep the balance right in the compost bins. With our existing bins children have been able to see the full cycle of decomposition; we have been able to show children what happens to this waste. They were amazed that it turned into lovely brown crumbly compost and leaf mould. We have used the compost and leaf mould to enrich the soil for bulb and tree planting in the field.
Early Years children planting trees in the school grounds (Nov. 2007)
Click here to read the first Eco Schools Newsletter
Click here to read the second Eco Schools Newsletter