Knaphill Schools have been praised by TV personality and wildlife expert Steve Backshall for putting up green screening and living walls that give extra security from the main road, improve air quality and help to restore nature to the school environment.

In a personal address to the pupils, Backshall congratulated the school for supporting nature and said he hoped more schools would follow suit.

The project began last year when Knaphill Schools PTA consulted parents and carers and found that 81% wanted to see improvements to the green spaces and the natural environment within the schools and 86% wanted to see greater provision around pupils growing plants and vegetables.

The PTA and school senior leadership team decided on the green screening and living walls and funding was secured with the help of local borough councillor Hassan Akberali, county councillor Saj Hussain and Lansbury Business Estate, which donated £1,000 to the project.

The PTA ran fundraising activities and, thanks to Cllr Hussain, the remainder of the funding was provided by Surrey County Council, through the Your Fund Surrey Small Community Projects fund. 

Over summer this year, around 100m of green screening was installed around the school grounds,  transforming the large and small playgrounds. 

When the pupils went back to school at the start of September, headteacher, Debbie Harrison and vice-chair of the PTA, Vikki Zeila organised a special assembly, a biodiversity workshop run by the Wildlife Aid Foundation and presented the message from Steve Backshall.

The Global Centre for Clean Air Research at Surrey University is monitoring the air quality impact of the screening, which has been accepted onto the Asthma + Lung UK’s Clean Air Champions programme, a national schools’ air pollution monitoring project, supported by the Bupa Foundation.

Cllr Hussain said: “I could see the passion and enthusiasm that surrounded this project from the outset, but until you see it for yourself, you cannot picture just how transformational this project is.  “The PTA and school have a great vision around eco and sustainability issues and I am very proud to have supported them with this project.”

Cllr Akberali said: “It has been an honour to be involved in this exciting project brought to my attention by Vikki soon after I was elected as Knaphill councillor.

“Raising the funds has not been easy, so we are all extremely grateful to Cllr Hussain as Chair of Surrey County Council for his support and Mark Craven for the donation on behalf of Lansbury Business Estate for recognising the significance of actively encouraging young children to protect the environment.”

Mrs Harrison said: “This project is transformational and the screening perfectly frames our beautiful village school. 

“The green screening will provide so many benefits to our children but the whole project also represents many of our school values – positivity, courage and resilience to persevere with a challenging project, respect and responsibility for our surroundings and nature and nurturing the curiosity of our children.

“I am thrilled to see this project become a reality.”