School to celebrate Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

The children and staff of Saint Nicholas’ Catholic Primary School in Liverpool recently enjoyed a very special assembly led by Colonel Charles Hillock, one of the deputy lieutenants of Merseyside.

At the assembly the children learnt all about the Queen’s forthcoming Platinum Jubilee, which takes place on Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 June 2022. The Colonel also spoke to the children about the life and the work of Her Majesty’s 70 years of service to the nation.

One pupil from the school said after the assembly: “I didn’t know that the Queen Elizabeth the Second was from such a big family who look after her as she is getting old”.

After the assembly, and as one of the schools taking part in the Queen’s Green Canopy Project, a special tree planting ceremony took part in the school grounds. This is one of fifteen trees that will be planted at the school.

The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) is a unique tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, which invites people from across the United Kingdom to ‘Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’.

Everyone from individuals to scout and girlguiding groups, villages, cities, counties, schools and corporates will be encouraged to play their part to enhance our environment by planting trees during the official planting season between October to March. Tree planting will commence again in October 2022, through to the end of the Jubilee year.

With a focus on planting sustainably, the QGC will encourage planting of trees to create a legacy in honour of The Queen’s leadership of the nation, which will benefit future generations. 

As well as inviting the planting of new trees, The Queen’s Green Canopy will dedicate a network of 70 ancient woodlands across the United Kingdom and identify 70 ancient trees to celebrate Her Majesty’s 70 years of service. 

The event linked nicely to the school’s history and geography curricula and emphasises the importance of addressing climate change and global warming which has been so prevalent in the news recently, especially whilst COP26 was taking place in November. 

Headteacher, Mr Martin Davies said: “This was a fabulous assembly full of information about our monarchy, its values and what it stands for. Then being able to play our part in developing the Queens Green Canopy Project straight afterwards alongside our pupil council and vice chair of governors, Mr Justin Chiong, was another fantastic learning opportunity the children thoroughly enjoyed.

“We are proud to be one of the schools taking part in the Queens Green Canopy Project. This is a massive national effort for everyone to plant more individual trees and to expand our woodlands.”

One pupil from St Nicholas’ said after the assembly: “I learnt that the Queen just doesn’t rule she has to do a lot of different work as well for people around the world”, whilst another pupil said: “I never knew that the Queen was in charge of so many other countries in our Commonwealth as well as our country” 

The school and pupils are now looking forward to marking the Queen’s jubilee and are making plans for the Queen’s Green Canopy Project in 2022 with one pupil saying: “2022 is the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year and she wants us all to help with climate change by planting hundreds of trees in her country.”