Colby Primary School, near Aylsham has won the North Norfolk Environment Awards for three years in a row. Now the pupils want to share their love of nature with others as well. They will be writing a diary for the BBC Norfolk website and will also be making three wildlife films to be shown at the BBC Wild In Your Garden event in Norwich's Chapelfield Gardens in May. "We are an eco school and have an eco flag in the school hall," said 10-year-old James. "Our whole grounds are used to help the environment and there are lots of activities for us to take part in during our lunch hour," he added. It is the school's 125th anniversary this year. "Our school is out in the country. There are five classes and only 133 children aged from 4 to 11," said nine-year-old Bronte, who is chair of the school's eco-committee. Gardening club "We have a garden where we grow plants and last year grew lettuces as well," said 10-year-old Holly. "We have our own gardening club and one of the pupils is head gardener. Each house in the school has its own plot and there is even a competition for the best garden," she added. The pupils grow tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries in their green house and there is also an outside vegetable garden with squashes, pumpkins and beans. "We have a forest area with fruit trees. In the summer we can sit outside on the benches and eat our dinner in the garden," said 11-year-old Harry. "We also have a willow tunnel and arbour," said Bronte, "It's great for the little ones." Chicken run 
The chicken run |
It's not just gardening at the school, there is also a new weather station and even a bird club. "Four people feed and water the birds in the aviary each day," said eight-year-old Christopher. "There are cockatiels, zebra finches, bourkes parakeets, love birds and java sparrows," he added. There is a chicken run too with rare breeds. "We got a new shed last year," said Harry, "and we think it would make a good bird hide so we can watch the blue-tits, robins, sparrows and greenfinches that come into the grounds." James told us about the school pond. "It's good in science week as we can go pond dipping and find lots of bugs," he said. Inside the main building is a nature table where children are encouraged to bring in things such as shells, insects, a wasp's nest and a bird's skull. Changes in nature We will be hearing more about the nature table and a regular update on phenology in the coming months. Phenology is about looking at the changes in nature during the year. 
Showing off the school's weather station
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One of the most famous phenologists was a man called Robert Marsham who lived in the mid-1700s. Robert lived down the road from Colby Primary School and the pupil's recordings will see if anything has changed in the last few hundred years. Colby has done so many things for the environment that they are now called on for their expertise. Harry told us recently the How Hill Trust asked them to visit and talk about their work. "How Hill does lots of environmental education and wanted to see what they could learn from us. I then did a powerpoint presentation to other teachers in Norfolk about our visit," he explained. "I've only been at this school for a little while but I think it's really good," said nine-year-old Harriet. "The best thing is there's no bullying here. The older children all look after the younger ones with our buddy scheme and we even have playground angels. It's a really busy school, and there is always something to do." See the school's nature gallery here | 
