24 September 2024
Our endless enthusiasm for sharing our love of the outdoors is one of the reasons why Rootd trips are different from your regular school residential. We see the benefits for school children of enjoying spending time outside on every trip we run. Operating in an environmentally responsible way is important to us, we want to inspire schools and students on the importance of looking after our environment and set the standards for Environmentally responsible school trips.
Our responsibility and environmental projects
Since we founded the Rootd brand, sustainable projects have been at the core of what we do. We designed our website following Low Carbon web design principles and measure it’s impact annually. We set up a partnership with Ecologi to offset our emissions and fund the responsible planting of more trees. At our beautiful woodland activity centre in Hertfordshire you can see how we’ve made sustainability a cornerstone of the Rootd approach.
Why do we need to protect our site?
Our site encompasses areas of ancient woodland in addition to bordering some of the only remaining areas of unimproved calcareous grassland in Hertfordshire.
We share our site with a large variety of animals, plants and insects; therefore, we have a responsibility to be respectful and avoid having a detrimental impact on the areas of woodland we utilise for our residential adventures.
Moreover, as we become increasingly aware of the importance of protecting our green spaces for the future of our planet, we are striving to not just maintain our sites but to also work towards improving and restoring the woodland.
What do we already do?
- Composting toilets
- “no-go zones” Roped off areas around site where children and staff cannot go to allow foliage to grow and wildlife to have areas for nests/burrows and feeding
- Ecologi partnership
- For every Google review we receive from a school we plant a tree
- Teach children about the environment
- Multiple of our activity sessions focus on engaging children with nature
- Educational activities teach children more about the woodland
- People who know more and feel connected to nature are more likely to protect it
- Reward employees for public transport use
Our Current Projects
Installation of bird and bat houses
- A recent environmental survey found that we have ten species of bat and four protected bird species.
- We are aiming to install bird and bat boxes around site to provide nesting areas to increase the populations of these protected species
Reforestation
- Forest management – replanting native species, particularly those with high value to wildlife
- Planting hedges and creating natural barriers
- Off-grid sustainable staff cabin
Our Future Goals
- Achieve B-Corp status
- Lower our carbon footprint
Environmentally responsible school trips are a great way to keep your students engaged about sustainability and learning about their environment in a hands on way. If you have any questions for our team about environmentally responsible residential or day trips please get in touch.