Havant MP Alan Mak visited St Alban’s CE Primary School in Leigh Park to see how pupils are working on an award-winning project to encourage residents to grow bee and other pollinator-friendly plants.
During the visit, the MP signed up to commit to the ‘Pollinator Promise’, and will be dedicating space for the project at Langstone Technology Park, where his constituency office is based.
The ‘Pollinator Promise’ campaign, backed by the Government, developed from the Polli:Nation ‘Art with a Message’ competition. Funded by the Heritage Lottery, the Polli:Nation project has been developed by Learning through Landscapes and helps schools to improve bio-diversity in their grounds and locality.
The pupils at the school have been inviting other pupils, parents, teachers and members of their local community to pledge to allocate a dedicated one metre by one metre area outdoor space for friendly garden pollinators. The pupils have even harvested seeds from their school garden to help participants get started.
After efforts to sign-up local businesses, the school were awarded the Bees’ Needs Champions Award by DEFRA Minister Lord Gardiner.
After seeing a presentation from pupils at the school, Alan praised the work done by the pupils, as well as congratulating them on winning a national award.
He said: “I was inspired to see the enthusiasm and dedication pupils from St Alban’s had for the environment. The ‘Pollinator Promise’ is a fantastic project that the whole community has wholeheartedly supported. I was delighted to add my support to the campaign, and I look forward to welcoming the pupils to my constituency office at Langstone Technology Park to plant a bed of pollinator friendly plants. I would encourage everyone to make the Pollinator Promise.”
Nicola Hordell, Headteacher at St Alban’s Primary said: “It was great to welcome Alan to St Alban’s and explain to him more about our Pollinator Promise project. We are delighted that he will be putting the promise into action and the pupils are looking forward to visiting his constituency office to plant some pollinator-friendly plants.”
Anyone interested in taking the ‘Pollinator Promise’ can email [email protected] for more information.
Picture: Alan Mak MP with pupils from St Alban’s School