Hope for the future.

Sherborne Girls School Wildflower Meadow - Year 1. August, 2019.

Changing the world is possible. We’re doing it - one school at a time.

Since the launch of the Conservation School Award in December 2018, 10 schools across Dorset and Somerset have established important rewilding initiatives within their school grounds.

The Conservation School Award was launched in December 2018 at Sherborne Girls School, followed shortly after by the Gryphon School, who were sponsored by Sherborne Girls. In just over two years since the rewilding began, we have seen the restoration of nature and the return of wildlife at both school grounds. This has happened through one large scale intervention - the creation of a wildflower meadow spanning the entire length of the sports pitches at Sherborne Girls, and at the Gryphon School, through simple changes in land management practices that have allowed nature to bounce back. Read more about Rewilding at Sherborne Girls and The Gryphon School.

In April 2019, Sherborne School joined the Award, and they in turn sponsored King Arthur’s School in Wincanton. At Sherborne School, woodland restoration began along the perimeter of the sports field, with the planting of over 3,500 saplings. At King Arthur’s a natural regeneration occurred through changes in land management, and at the end of 2020, a new wildflower meadow was created. Since our small beginnings in 2018, and despite Covid-19 and lockdowns, we have now seen the programme rolled out and established in 10 schools.

As well as creating a network of havens for wildlife, what is also important in all schools taking part in the programme, is that the children have an opportunity to get practically involved in the restoration of nature. This generates a real sense of empowerment for young people, in what can sometimes feel like an overwhelming situation when looking at the catastrophic decline of nature on a global scale.

Our message to young people is that if we all take action, if we all play our part in creating a new story, then we can still turn the tide of extinction - for us and the rest of the community of life on the planet.

Students sowing the new wildflower meadow at King Arthur’s School, Wincanton.

Woodland restoration and building a dead-hedge for shelter for wildlife at The Digby boarding house, Sherborne School.