A primary school has been given five trees as part of a Commonwealth scheme aimed at marking The Queen’s service has head of the global organisation.

The trees – part of the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy (QCC) project – were presented to Whitton Primary School by Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP Dr Dan Poulter.

The trees have been given out as part of a partnership between the Woodland Trust, Sainsbury’s and ITV.

Dr Poulter chose to donate his trees to Whitton Primary as it embarks on a series of exciting projects, looking to grow and transform the school.

The pack of trees contained five UK-sourced and grown native broad leaf trees – two Silver Birch, two Rowan and one Hazel.

Speaking about the initiative, Dr Poulter said: “I am delighted to support the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy initiative, which recognises the lifetime of service given by Her Majesty to the Commonwealth, but also the importance of the conserving the UK’s woodlands and trees for future generations.

“Pupils at Whitton already enjoy outdoor forest learning sessions and with their new building work underway, what better way is there for the children to get involved and leave their lasting legacy at the school?

“I know that the children will very much enjoy planting the trees, watching them grow and knowing that they form part of the Queen’s Commonweath Canopy legacy project.”

Headteacher Stephen Capper said: “We are delighted to receive the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy Trees from Dr Poulter when he visited the school.

“Our children are very concerned about environmental issues, especially pollution and plastics. It is so important for our children to develop and understand the natural world, so they very much appreciated such a special gift that will keep on growing.”

The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy project was launched at the 2015 Commonwealth conference in Malta and is aimed at creating new forests and plantations of trees in the 53 member countries.

In Britain it is supporting three major projects – improving Epping Forest, the National Forest in the midlands and Wentwood in Wales as well as supporting schools to plant trees across the country.