Here's your Friday update, covering: A further 30,000 trees planted in Cardiff since October 2022; forthcoming Bowel Cancer Awareness Month; Llandaff City CIW Primary School; ‘A nurturing learning environment where pupils develop effective skills' says Estyn; and Aerial tree map helping reduce the risk of surface water flooding in Cardiff.

A further 30,000 trees planted in Cardiff since October 2022

Since October last year, a further 30,000 trees have been planted in Cardiff as part of the Coed Caerdydd project.

The 10-year project which is now at the end of its second planting season, is part of the council's response to the climate change emergency and aims to increase tree canopy cover in the city from 18.9% to 25%.

152 planting events have taken place across the city since October, with residents, local community groups and schools helping to plant 11.5 hectares of land, the equivalent of 21 football pitches, with trees.

Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Events, Cllr Jennifer Burke, said: "If we are going to realise our vision of carbon neutral city by 2030, not only do we have to reduce carbon emissions at source by encouraging people to leave their cars at home and use public transport, walking or cycling, we also need to plant many more trees to help absorb carbon emissions.

"Cardiff's trees already remove the annual emissions of around 14,000 cars from the atmosphere, and absorb 10.5% of the pollutants emitted by traffic. Working together with communities and volunteers, the ambitious Coed Caerdydd project aims to grow the city's tree canopy year on year, creating an urban forest that will provide us all with cleaner air and a greener city to enjoy."

Read more here:

https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/31050.html

Bowel Cancer Awareness Month

April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month. It's a fantastic annual opportunity to raise awareness of bowel cancer. To find out about Bowel Screening Wales,visit here.

At least 9 in 10 people will survive bowel cancer if it's found and treated early enough.

Are you aged 55-74?

If you're living in Wales and registered with a doctor, you'll automatically be sent a test kit every two years.

Screening can help find bowel cancer early, when it's easier to treat.

Bowel cancer screening could save your life. Screening can help find bowel cancer early, when you don't have any symptoms.

Taking part in screening is your choice. Get the info you need to make a decisionhere.

#BowelCancerAwarenessMonth

Llandaff City CIW Primary School; ‘A nurturing learning environment where pupils develop effective skills' says Estyn

Inspectors have described Llandaff City CIW Primary School as "a nurturing learning environment where pupils develop effective skills in areas such as language and mathematics."

Following its visit in December, a team from Estyn, the education inspectorate for Wales, found that the senior leaders have established a vision for the school based firmly around its Christian ethos and the nurturing of pupils' social, emotional, spiritual and educational needs. This purposeful vision is shared by all, including pupils, and ensures that the school is a warm and caring learning environment. There is a strong culture of safeguarding at the school and all staff understand well their role in this.

Estyn found that school leaders work diligently to provide the best for all, working thoughtfully, with pupils' well-being firmly in mind. They support and challenge all at the school to do their best and consider thoughtfully how best to evaluate the work of the school, although these processes need to be sharper.

The recently published report goes onto to say that the school is working thoughtfully towards implementing changes in the light of the Curriculum for Wales reforms and that pupils benefit from a range of stimulating learning experiences. Provision to develop pupils' Welsh language skills is effective and pupils' use the language confidently. It also noted that pupils from the faith school in Llandaff are thoughtful and inquisitive, speak eloquently and share their thoughts and ideas readily with many having well-developed opinions.

Read more here:

https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/31053.html

Aerial tree map helping reduce the risk of surface water flooding in Cardiff

An aerial map of trees is helping Cardiff Council reduce the risk of surface water flooding.

The National Tree Map, created by Bluesky International, provides accurate height, location and canopy coverage data for more than 400 million trees across the UK. Intelligence from the maps, combined with data detailing the location of Cardiff's highways drainage gullies enables cleansing and street sweeping programmes, along with community engagement, to be prioritised for areas most at risk of falling leaves blocking drains.

Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Cllr Caro Wild, said: "As Cardiff experiences increasingly extreme weather as a result of climate change, surface water flooding poses a growing risk, and this is a simple but highly effective way of using location-based intelligence to achieve operational benefits."

The Council currently has responsibility for around 100,000 highway gullies, or drains (pits covered by an open metal grating typically located at the edge of the highway), which are designed to drain rainwater, and other surface run off, into a drainage system where it can be conveyed to an appropriate discharge point.

As part of the national dataset, the Bluesky National Tree Map has captured data of trees 3 metres and taller in the Cardiff area. Using the open-source Geographical Information System QGIS, to compare the proximity of trees and gullies, close to 5,000 or five percent of gullies were deemed to be at risk of leaf fall.

Read more here:

https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/31016.html