60,000 and counting: QGC Junior Forester Award
The 2022-23 tree planting season is nearly here. There’s still plenty of time for schools, organisations and others to join more than 60,000 registered for the unique QGC Junior Forester Award.
The RFS is proud to be working in partnership with The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) to deliver this special edition of the Junior Forester Award. It includes activities linked to The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, which marks Her Majesty’s 70 years of service.
The QGC Junior Forester Award aims to give children and young people of all ages an insight into the skills needed for a career in Forestry, as well as equipping them with the practical ability to assist in woodland management in their schools and local communities. The award is also supported by the Royal Scottish Forestry Society.
Taking part is free. Here’s how.
We have been hearing from teachers, parents, grandparents, girl guides, schoolchildren and many others taking part in the Queen’s Green Canopy Junior Forester Award. We’ve even heard from a family in Canada taking part.
Pictured above: Leafy Trails Forest School measures the height of trees as part of the QGC JFA; Below: The Lord Lieutenant of Durham Sue Snowden presented Platinum Jubilee commemorative coins in a special assembly to the children of Harow Gate Primary Academy who had completed the award
- “The children have really enjoyed working towards this forester award and have gained a wealth of knowledge about their local woodland and the wildlife surrounding them…Hopefully we have inspired this generation to care for their environment and realise the importance of sustainability.”
- “Their engagement and connection with the outdoors is evident. They really loved getting hands on and look forward to the future habitat and benefit their planting brings.”
- “The project has not only helped the children understand more about our natural world that is developed through the use of forests, but has also been used to help with the planning of consecutive planning of activities and challenges within our Forest School and Outdoor learning programmes.”
- “The Children enjoyed the project. They particularly enjoyed the identifying risks section and worked with our outdoor learning teacher to prune back bushes and trees in the woodland area to make it more useable.”
- “I liked the group because we got to be outside in the nature and we got to learn about habitats, risks outside and different kinds of trees.”
- “It has helped me learn to be safer in different places”
- “Trees are a valuable thing, they give us oxygen and houses for our animals and birds”
Parents told us:
- “This is an amazing opportunity. My little boy has started signing flower and tree!”
- From Canada:”My two children enjoyed taking part in the planting of the tree and they were also given two more trees to plant elsewhere. Which we are hoping to plant very soon and put a time capsule when planting the tree. Where we plant them will be locally so that they can watch the tree develop.They are also taking part in a community garden which is open to the public, where they are planting veg, fruits and plants to help bring back the bee’s, butterflies and other wildlife. … being British ourselves and wanting to take part in the upcoming Jubilee with my children we will be celebrating all the way from Canada.”.
The Queen’s Green Canopy is a unique tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. This initiative invites people from across the United Kingdom to “Plant a Tree for the Jubilee.”
