Second year International Baccalaureate (IB) students have spent the last seven weeks with sixth form students at Treetops School to create a fantastic mural on the school’s grounds. They are also working on producing a carbon footprint in the form of a flower bed on the school and College grounds, which will be complete by Spring.

The Creativity Action Service (CAS) project is a major part of the IB Diploma and involves IB students dedicating 150 hours of service into the community over the two years of their course.

The students have been providing peer mentoring to nine sixth form students from Treetops School since September. The IB students have been busy planning and delivering lessons about the environment to students as well as building their knowledge of environmental issues such as the greenhouse effect, endangered species, the rainforest, carbon footprints etc.

The students started work on the mural in October and are grateful to Thurrock Re-Use Project (TRUP) for providing the paint to complete their masterpiece, which is themed around the environment. Due to the cold weather, work is currently at a halt but will continue in the Spring so the other half of the balcony is painted.

Mark Vinall, Principal of Palmer’s College said: “I am extremely proud of the students devoting their time to help local learners both academically, creatively and strengthening their confidence levels as well as increasing their knowledge around global issues such as the environment.”

Jill Wingham from Treetops School said: “We feel that working alongside each other on this joint environmental project has been beneficial to both Treetops and Palmer’s IB students. Social skills are an important part of community life. This project has given both Treetops and Palmer’s students the opportunity to gain the understanding and knowledge that comes from working in a different environment, which I feel is so important in the world today.”