The Archbishop of York Church of England Junior School visited Bishopthorpe Palace this week to deliver a home-made bird box as part of their Young Leaders Award community action project.

56 Year 6 AYJS pupils are currently taking the Archbishop of York’s Key Stage 2 Young Leaders Award. As a part of the Award, the pupils have focussed on serving others and making a real difference in their local community.  Their action projects have included gardening and weeding along the school road, improving the outside eating area at school, visiting St Leonard’s Hospice to perform songs to the patients and organising a community afternoon to raise money for local charities.

9 of the Award students came up with the idea of making bird-boxes to be donated to various places within the Bishopthorpe village, including Bishopthorpe Palace woods.  

Last year Bishopthorpe Palace grounds were designated as a SINC (Site of Interest for Nature Conservation) and the site contains valuable habitat such as Acid Grassland as well as one of the main Nuthatch populations in York.

Garry O’Reagan, Bishopthorpe Head Gardener said: “It’s great to see young people taking an interest in the natural environment and I’m delighted to be placing one of their home made bird boxes in the grounds of Bishopthorpe. There is an exciting variety of birds to be seen in the Palace woods so hopefully these boxes will provide a valuable home to local wildlife”.

Dan Finn, Director of the Archbishop of York Youth Trust said; “We continue to be inspired by thousands of students who are completing amazing acts of kindness through our Awards. Our Young Leaders Award aims to empower young people to become active citizens in their communities, serve others and ‘be the change they want to see’. These students are a wonderful example of this.”