🌳 A Growing Legacy of Green
Veolia Orchard has enriched playgrounds nationwide since 2022, enabling biodiversity to flourish in over 500 school grounds across the UK. Now, students in 28 schools across Southend-on-Sea have joined this blooming initiative to develop long-lasting environmental habits and improve their local area.
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🍎 1,500 Trees and Counting
Veolia’s nationwide orchard now includes over 1,500 apple and pear trees and 1,900 strawberry plants. Each of the 500 participating schools joins an environmental network encouraging sustainable practices and outdoor learning for children of all ages.
This year’s saplings all come from the same mother trees, grown at Grow Fruit Trees’ nursery in Kent. Richmond Avenue Primary School received five young fruit trees, now part of Veolia’s expanding family tree. Meanwhile, 30 strawberry plants were donated to Kingsdown School, Prince Avenue Academy & Nursery, and Chalkwell Hall Infant School.
🍓 For schools with limited outdoor space, Veolia provides strawberry plants, ensuring every student can still connect with nature – even in more urban environments.
🌱 Hands-On with Nature
Last week, students got their hands dirty as Veolia’s team visited local schools alongside Kursaal Ward Councillor Chris Webster. Together, they planted trees, learned proper planting techniques, and discovered how to care for their new orchard.
The interactive planting session helped students understand how their orchard supports their school – from beautifying their grounds to providing fresh, locally-grown fruit.
To support the effort, Veolia also supplied each school with peat-free soil conditioner and topsoil from Pro-Grow. This helps preserve fragile peatland habitats and avoids releasing stored carbon – a vital part of Veolia Orchard’s carbon-neutral goals.
🗣️ What They Said
Pascal Hauret, Municipal Managing Director at Veolia:
“We’re very pleased to have brought positive change to the local community in Southend through our Veolia Orchard project, which reached more UK schools than ever this year. This initiative exemplifies Veolia’s dedication to building a greener, more sustainable future across the country by increasing biodiversity and inspiring positive environmental practices in young people.”
Brad George, Teacher at Richmond Avenue Primary School:
“We’re so grateful to Veolia for awarding Richmond Avenue Primary & Nursery School some fruit trees as part of the Veolia Orchard project. The children are so excited to have them and to look after them along with our Gardening Club.”