Youngsters encouraged to get planting thanks to College and Tilhill collaboration

A collaboration between @BordersCollege and Tilhill Forestry saw hundreds of Primary School children from across the Scottish Borders receive a free tree to take home and plant in their schools and own gardens.

Primary 5 children recently attended the School’s Countryside Education Day at the Border Events Centre, Kelso, where College staff were delighted to be handing out the saplings and giving advice on tree planting to the youngsters.

The College stand was buzzing with activity, with the pupils also enjoying meeting the animals and learning about the all-terrain vehicles and other equipment on show.

The exciting partnership between the College and Tilhill aims to inspire young people to become the new generation of foresters to plant, maintain and manage forests.

Both organisations were winners of the Anna Murray Partnership Working Award at this year’s ALBAS Awards for their work delivering exciting forestry-based educational training and experiences to secondary school youngsters.

Andrew Johnson, Borders College Curriculum Learning Manager for Rural Skills, commented:

“We were delighted to take part in this important event and it highlights our great working relationship with Tillhill Forestry, the pupils were very enthusiastic about planting the trees in their school gardens.“

The School’s Countryside Education Day is held annually in May to promote food, farming, the rural sector and the countryside to all the Primary 5 school children from within the region. 

The aim is to facilitate an interactive, out of the classroom, fun, educational event where children can hear, touch, feel and see as many aspects of the countryside around them all within one venue.  A truly unique event, the Schools Countryside Education Day is the first and only event of its kind, in Scotland.