Gardening Projects: Curwen Primary School, Newham;
Grove Primary School, Romford
Maud is a keen gardener and has worked with other gardeners and carpenters to develop some school grounds, planting with perennials so they go from strength to strength year to year. Also planting vegetables from seed and fruit canes and varieties that fruit during term time, so the pupils get to enjoy them.
We ran workshops across year groups using recycled plastic bottles to make self watering seed pots and every child planted a seed and watched it grow before it was put into the vegetable garden. Classes had great fun planting fruit trees and climbers, that grew to benefit the school community and local wildlife.
Insect hotels were also a fun way for the pupils to learn about woodwork and insects lifecycles and habitats, making the school urban gardens more friendly for the bugs we need. Mosaics were a way to celebrate and decorate the areas all year round, with imagery of the wildlife they would hope to see in their flourishing gardens.
We found the community sessions really useful to identify parents/grandparents who were skilled at gardening and would hopefully continue to help the school with their gardens, sharing their skills to the pupils and school staff. These were valuable learning and skills sharing projects with long lasting benefits for the environment and will provide valuable education resources for years to come.
