The ‘Eco Emeralds’, the group of young environmentalists who inspired the nationwide Backyard Nature campaign, held a ‘Bee Day’ event at All Saints Catholic Primary School in Anfield, Liverpool, that saw the school change its entire curriculum to centre all lessons around bees and conservation. Teachers led a special assembly in the morning and the school hosted a community event in the afternoon, with workshops and activities for all 430 pupils, focused on saving bees.
An Iceland Home Delivery van, designed to look like a giant bee, surprised the children with a special delivery of ice creams and fruit to the school. Twelve-year-old Daniel Keating, a former member of the Eco Emeralds, pitched the idea of transforming an Iceland Home Delivery van into a giant bee to help publicise Backyard Nature, which is funded by the Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation and run by community platform Semble.
Richard Walker, Managing Director of Iceland Foods and a trustee of the Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation, said: “The Bee Vans and the Bee Day are just the latest examples of impressive creative thinking by the Eco Emeralds from All Saints School. They are a truly inspirational bunch and, while the challenges arising from climate change are undoubtedly huge and daunting, I think we can all take hope from the ingenuity, passion and determination of these wonderful young people.”
All Saints Primary School head teacher Jeremy Barnes said: “We are immensely proud that our children have inspired a national campaign, with the potential to inspire thousands of others to spend time in nature in their own neighbourhoods. Their passion for our planet gives me real hope for the future. On Friday they spent a whole day dedicated to learning about bees. Every child was given a seedball to take home and encouraged to ‘adopt’ a plot of land. We expect to see lots of children signing up to be Backyard Nature Guardians.”
