Our Local Environment
Looking After our Plants
CAYLEY CLEAN AIR WE SHARE and CAYLEY URBAN HEDGE PROJECT
London’s air quality and its detrimental effect on health is a pressing concern for all Londoners. At Cayley our car use is high and we encourage all children and parents to improve air quality and get fit by walking or cycling, not driving to school. If you are driving, leaving your car idling causes high levels of pollution, so always switch off the engine.
Last year children wrote letters to the Mayor about air quality around Cayley. Children at Cayley are learning that they can make a difference to their local environment by pushing for change. Before half term, children made green hearts to show their love for things they want to keep in the world- the creatures or places that are being affected by climate change.
We can all make a difference. At Cayley our car use is high and we encourage all children and parents to improve air quality and get fit by walking or cycling, not driving to school. If you are driving, leaving your car idling causes high levels of pollution, so always switch off the engine.
We are happy to announce that our Cayley Urban hedge has been dug and planted. This is a project to improve the air quality, bio diversity, road safety and social connections at the back gate in Hearnshaw Street. Parents and staff voted for this project and won £4000 from Tesco’s Bags towards making it happen. Tower Hamlets are also contributing money. We have planted 4 trees and the hedge is a mixture of native woodland trees, including plums and wild cherries, that will be kept as a hedgerow. Learning about and looking after soil, plants and local wildlife is also a way of building respect for our world. There will be an information board about the native plants and mini beasts so it will also be an outdoor classroom promoting outdoor learning away from screens. Connecting with our real outdoor world has a proven link with improving well being.
By greening up the area and supplying two curved benches we will also create a more social and relaxing place for parents to wait at pick up and drop off time.
Cayley is also receiving funding from a London wide programme called Safer Streets which aims to improve air quality around schools and they will be extending our green area at both the front and the back of the school as the year progresses.
Judith Stanley-Smith and Jane Heather (Landscape Designer)
