When people walk to and sit with a trees, for each journey, there is a new story.

Each of the seven Long View trees has been twinned with a nearby primary school and the children in these schools, like us, have formed their own special relationship with their tree. What they see along the way as they walk to the tree, what they learn about their tree, and the stories they discover and develop about each location have become ingredients for art work. The trees are the focus, but the journeys to them and the diversity of what’s around them are important as well: everything is connected.

The children we have worked with range in age from 5 to 11 (although we have walked to the trees with sixth form students and postgraduate students as well, our work with primary schools has included the add-on day of creativity). Inspired by their walks and encounters with trees, many children wrote poems and collected photographs. As a group each school produced a collective piece, resulting in short films: follow the links at the end of this page.

Each of the schools was invited to extend their work beyond our visit to achieve a John Muir Discovery Award. The John Muir principles of explore, discover, conserve and share are a perfect fit with The Long View and it’s exciting to bring the two together.

 

 

What the Children Say

Staveley School at the Kentmere Rowan