Tufnell Park pupils working at the school’s wildlife pond [All photos: Tufnell Park school PTA]

PARENTS are appealing for donations following the disappearance of all the tadpoles in a school’s wildlife pond.

Children at Tufnell Park Primary School have enjoyed four years of pond-dipping, bug-inspecting fun, that is now being threatened by a leak in the pond’s floor.

There’s normally enough frogspawn for every year group to have in their classroom, watching to see if it will turn into tadpoles, then froglets, and then frogs.

But due to damage in the pond’s lining, the pond has now dried out, meaning that the frogs have missed out on their breeding season.

Anne Jaluzot, who has two children at the school and runs the gardening club, said: “Since we started to now, we don’t have the same water level. During the breeding season, you must have water because that’s when the frogspawn needs to be wet. For the first time it wasn’t, so it dried out and then died.”

She added: “The pond was laid about 24 years ago. There’s a liner at the bottom of the pond that must be damaged because we retain water very poorly.”

The garden was revived five years ago after more than 60 parents volunteered to clear it up. It had fallen into disrepair while the school was undergoing redevelopment.

Ms Jaluzot, whose eldest child is now in Year 4, said: “When we joined there was a jungle at the entrance that was fenced off. It clearly had a pond, but it was just bramble from gate to gate, the whole thing was completely underground.”

She added: “I work in the environment sector. I knew if it was that established, I couldn’t imagine that there wouldn’t be tadpoles. We clambered in and saw loads of frogs and toads. We did two or three community gardening days. A group of 60 parents signed up to help, and the transformation was just stunning.”

The garden has since become home to all manner of creatures, including stag beetles, bats and newts.

The garden is also home to newts

Ms Jaluzot told the Tribune: “The garden became accessible enough that we could volunteer to run a gardening club every Wednesday. It’s become the most popular after-school club, we always have a waiting list.

“Most of the students live in flats, and they might have greens on their estate, but for a lot of children this is the one opportunity to have contact with nature.”

Headteacher Martin Scarborough described the pond as a “unique and powerful learning space” that allowed children to “experience real curiosity, calm, and connection with the natural world”.

He added: “As an inner-London school we’re incredibly lucky to have this. As our school grows to welcome potentially up to 600 children in the coming years, this kind of outdoor learning will be more important than ever. This restoration is a purposeful investment in the wellbeing and education of every child in our community.”

The group are now appealing for £2,000 to repair the pond and the dipping platform.

More details at https://superkind.org/campaign/tufnell-park-primary-school-parent-teachers-association-tufnell-park-primary-pond-restoration