Climate Action: We planted a tree for every child

Our A Tree for Every Child project succeeded in almost 60,000 trees being planted in schools, gardens and green spaces across the district.

The project, which ran from November 2020 to March 2023, had set a target of planting 55,000 trees – the equivalent of one tree per primary school child in the district.

A Tree for Every Child, when it launched in November 2020, had a national audience, as it featured on BBC1's Countryfile programme.

We invested £250,000 into the scheme and invited school and community groups to register an interest in taking part. We had support from Trees for Cities which is funded by The Dulverton Trust, The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund and The Arbor Day Foundation, as well as players of the Postcode Lottery.

Within a month of the launch, over 40 schools said they wanted to be involved, either by having an orchard or native trees planted on their grounds, helping to plant new woodland sites or receiving trees for people to take away and plant at home.

There were also a number of community planting days held over the three years, the Queen’s Green Canopy project which saw thousands of trees planted to mark the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and trees given away at community events.

Vital support for the scheme came from Trees for Cities, Fruit Works Co-operative, Forest of Bradford (Bradford Environmental Action Trust), YORgreencic, Bradford Environment Education Service (BEES), Woodhouse Community Growers, town and parish councils and other community groups.

By the end of the project:

• 90 primary schools planted 11,607 native trees / hedges on their grounds
• 40 of these schools, plus one secondary, have new mini orchards (each school planting 7 trees and 7 fruit bushes)
• 43,897 trees were planted to create new woodlands and were dedicated to the Queen's Green Canopy
• 4,000 trees were given to households for their gardens through schools and open events
• 100s of volunteers took part, including residents, faith groups, community organisations, local businesses, college and university students, youth service, museum staff, council staff, councillors, Queen's Green Canopy Lieutenants and the Lord Mayor’s Office.
• Plus 1000s of pupils, staff, families and school communities.