Boarding schools in the UK, the USA, Turkey, Ireland, India, Russia and Switzerland have come together to support the planet by planting an international boarding orchard.

In 2015 the UK-based Boarding Schools’ Association launched the Orchard, with the aim of creating the largest orchard in the world by distance.  Now over 151 boarding schools have now joined the scheme planting apple, pear, plum and even mulberry trees.

BSA Chief Executive Robin Fletcher said the Boarding Orchard was a way of bringing together members of the boarding schools family together and supporting the environment, and each new planting represented the tree of knowledge.

“It’s brilliant to see how well boarding schools have responded to this simple idea,” said Robin.

“Dozens of pupils have taken part and hundreds of individual trees have been planted, including apple, cherry, nectarine, fig and plum trees.

“It’s really thrilling to know that we have members of the Boarding Orchard as far south as Texas in the USA, right in the very north of Scotland too and in Switzerland in the heart of Europe. All the nations of the UK are now represented in the Boarding Orchard and many more boarding schools are planning to join over the next few months.”

The idea is to create the world’s largest orchard by distance through member schools each planting one (or more) fruit trees. The trees symbolise the ‘tree of knowledge’ and demonstrate each school’s commitment to growth and caring for the environment and sustainability.  

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