SCHOOLS and organisations nationwide are invited to take part in the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) Junior Forester Award – an education programme launched to celebrate Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.

The Award was unveiled at Balmoral Castle where Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales marked the start of the official tree planting season alongside children from Crathie Primary School in Scotland.

The children from Crathie Primary School took park in a variety of activities as the first participants of the QGC Junior Forester Award, including testing their tree-identification skills, making King and Queen of the forest crowns and decorating wooden disc necklaces.

The QGC Junior Forester Award has been developed by the Royal Forestry Society (RFS) in partnership with the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) and with the support of the Royal Scottish Forestry Society (RSFS) to inspire young people as the future custodians of the UK’s green spaces, forests and woodlands.

It is split into eight sessions which equip children and young people with the skills they need to effectively manage their own area of woodland, including looking after the trees that they have planted for the Platinum Jubilee.

The award spans two planting seasons: October 21-March 2022 and October 2021-March 2022.

RFS chief executive Christopher Williams said: “The Queen’s love of trees has shone out throughout her reign. We are proud to be able to capture that passion and enthusiasm to inspire children everywhere.

“The QGC Junior Forester Award will challenge children to think about woodland past and present. It will inspire them to plant more trees and to understand how those trees will grow and survive into the future.

“Importantly, they will have fun and form lasting memories of their Platinum Jubilee year, planting trees and caring for woodland.”

Her Majesty the Queen is Patron of the Royal Forestry Society. The QGC is a unique tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 which invites people across the United Kingdom to 'Plant a Tree for the Jubilee'.

QGC Junior Forester Award is a special edition of the RFS’s successful Junior Forester Award. It links children to the trees and woodland they plant for the Jubilee through curriculum based outdoor learning. It also references monarchs past and present and their links with trees through the ages.

Full details are available here.