Star Faryl sows seeds of success

THOUSANDS upon thousands of schools across the UK have started turning Britain green with Seeds For Schools.

In partnership with the Forestry Commission, we aim to grow and plant a MILLION trees and fight climate change with the help of every primary and secondary school in the UK.

This week, as pupils returned from their Easter break, the Royal Mail sent out a pack of 400 tree seeds, plus a specially-produced Forestry Commission DVD, to around 32,000 schools.

Fame

That's an astonishing total of more than 12 MILLION seeds -and already schools have been getting to work, making pots out of folded-up pages from the News of the World and planting seeds of Alder, Scots Pine and Silver Birch.

The initiative is part of our Go Green & Save eco-campaign which has already seen readers recycling phones and insulating homes. Among the many getting stuck in was Southfield School for Girls in Kettering, Northants, where 14-year-old operatic star Faryl Smith is a pupil.

"We've already started planting", said Faryl, whose album-simply titled Faryl- is already a chart sensation. "I think it's a really good way to get people more interested in the environment."

Faryl, who shot to fame on Britain's Got Talent, has arranged two weeks away from class so she can fly to the USA to promote her album - already American critics are giving her rave reviews. But she can stay in touch online with www.seedsforschools.org, a massive eco- learning resource.

"The website's amazing," she added. "There's so much information, it's a brilliant place for people to learn lots."Christine Lunt, who runs the school's Eco-Club, said: "Seeds For Schools is very exciting. We're always looking for new ways to encourage children to care about the environment, and this is a great way of doing just that."

The idea is that schools initially sow the seeds in pots or trays and nurture them indoors. When they become shoots, they're planted out take them in the community and hopefully flourish into trees.

We don't expect the take-up and survival rate to be 100 per cent, but if only 10 per cent make it to maturity we'll have passed a million.

TV presenter VERNON KAY said: "Seeds of Schools is a fantastic idea. I only wish there had been similar schemes in my school when I was growing up. I'd be happy to help schools plant the trees."

• UN hears our tree crusade

This article has 2 comments