Our story
The Children's Forest project established a new 4-acre woodland at Leasowe Farm in Radford Semele, Warwickshire, involving local children planting and maintaining a "Children's Forest" for future generations to enjoy. This project is one of many funded by the £1m Warwickshire County Council Green Shoots Community Climate Change Fund and is one of 13 Children’s Forests planted around the UK (with more projects being seeded all the time!).
The Project raises awareness of climate change with children and their families, to inspire and empower them to take action to reduce their carbon footprints and to create a positive impact on the environment. The Children's Forest involved planting 2,600 trees on 4 acres of land and engaged 350 people (of which at least 70% were children and young people); and importantly, maintaining this new woodland for many generations to come.
The aims of all Children's Forest projects are to support the creation of a healthy future for children; realise our imagination holds the key to what we create in the world; remember our place within the family of nature; develop our human gift of tending the natural world; bring about eco-restoration through the planting and tending of healthy trees and all the species they support.
The project was managed by Achieving Results in Communities (ARC), a local community organisation that has been working for 10 years to enhance access to, and management of, the natural environment to benefit the physical and mental health and wellbeing of local people in Warwick District and surrounding areas.
The project was guided by the Leasowe Land Regeneration Project Steering Group, whose vision was to engage the local community in a transition from farmland to woodland for a total of 12 acres, thus creating longer-term connections to the land, woods and nature.
Our advice
Consultations and collaboration were very important in developing plans for this project. In our case, key parties included Warwick District Council, the ecology team at Warwickshire County Council (WCC), statutory bodies, schools, religious associations, a youth club, college, FoRGE (Friends of Radford Semele Green Environment) and members of Canalside Community Food (which neighbours the woodland).
The project worked in partnership with The Children's Forests, applying and adapting their methodology and materials for engaging young people in planting woodland and deepening their connection to nature. Find out more at www.childrensforest.earth
The project also demonstrated methodologies and built a team of locally-trained facilitators, for community tree planting and climate education to be scaled up across the district, e.g. as part of Warwickshire's commitment to plant a tree for every member of its population by 2030.
Our Changeprint
Our Changeprint can be measured by the trees planted (2,600 on 4 acres of land); amount of sequestered carbon; improved air quality (when fully grown, the forest will capture 67 tonnes of harmful particulate matter from the atmosphere per year); helping people foster a stronger connection to woodland and nature locally; and by inspiring the creation of more bio-diverse natural spaces across Warwick District.
