Portland College Gets in the ‘Communitree’ Spirit

Having a 32 acre woodland campus has so many benefits for our learners @PortlandCollege, including enabling them to really develop their creative skills.

This week we have seen a number of wonderfully creative faces popping up among the trees on site as part of our Communitree Project.

Russell Nock, Subject Tutor explained the idea behind the creations which have been hand-crafted by learners still attending college:

“We were researching community projects that we could complete with our learners during lockdown and fellow tutor Victoria Sheldon came across a project based in the Forest of Dean a few years ago that gathered litter and fallen debris from the wood to make faces. The idea was that by creating faces and attaching them to the trees, people would think carefully about not littering as they were being watched!

“Learners and staff have really enjoyed being part of the project. We had separate groups collecting recycling, fallen branches from the woods and bits of timber that they found around the estate. They then created their own designs using as much imagination as possible and you can see this from the results!

“I am really proud of the project and they have bought a smile to staff and learners’ faces as they walk around the College.”

So far, learners have created 10 woodland faces, but there may be more appearing over the next few weeks!