Plymouth College Preparatory School's Year 4 Gardening Club has planted an Elm tree in the school grounds. The children were given the sapling as part of the Great British Elm Experiment.
The Conservation Foundation has been distributing saplings from parent trees that have survived the wave of Dutch Elm disease that has wiped out 25 million trees in the UK. Part of a long-term experiment to see why these particular trees have survived, the school will monitor its tree over ten years or more. The initiative is also a way of establishing a new generation of Elms.
Mrs Burke, the teacher in charge of the Gardening Club, said: "Our gardener, George Quirk, helped us to plant the tree. It is fantastic that we are part of the project and the children are really looking forward to watching the Elm tree's progress over the forthcoming years."
