Truro High School is helping to create the largest orchard, in terms of distance, in the UK after planting a “tree of knowledge” in its grounds.

As part of the celebrations for the BSA Golden Jubilee, an apple tree was planted at the school with the help of headmaster, Dr Glenn Moodie and head boarders Tia Joslyn and Karen Chan. The Boarding Orchard is a nationwide project run by the Boarding Schools’ Association which was launched in 2014.

The school is the first in Cornwall and the 70th in the UK to join in with this growing tradition. The school’s tree will be the most westerly planted in the UK. Placed looking out towards Truro Cathedral, a Cornish apple tree was chosen to represent of the tree of knowledge and demonstrates the school’s commitment to growth and the environment.

Head of boarding, Emma Menmuir, said: “Our boarders have an important role to play in the life of Truro High School. We currently have pupils from Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, mainland China, Russia and even Australia living alongside our UK boarders and today’s ceremony was a wonderful way to show that wherever our girls come from they will always have roots with their ‘second’ family in Cornwall.”

Since the project’s launch, schools across the UK have joined the Boarding Orchard, and trees have also been planted at boarding schools in Switzerland and the USA. It is hoped that 500 schools from all over the nation will become part of it.