Being a city school it is often difficult to enjoy the great outdoors so now we have brought a taste of nature to our school. From our garden parties where girls of all ages come together to plant flowers for each of the classes to our new and wonderful garden, Pembridge is simply blooming. With her green thumb Mrs Nagle, our Drama teacher, helped the Green Girls convert a small play area into a delightful oasis. Throughout the year she works with various students growing a variety of food which are then prepared and served during lunch time. We are now able to grow our own food, sit amongst greenery for quiet reading and even have summer picnics!

Our eco-club has got our allotment going this year and things are growing! Last year we made a greenhouse from plastic bottles and now it’s in use!

Summer is definitely a thing of the past here with sub zero temperatures being recorded at night time in various locations not far from us and the first skeins of noisy geese can be seen and heard over head as they start to arrive for the winter. A small number of swallows can still be seen flitting here and there, including those from the third brood hatched in the apex of our house; however, leaves are red and golden and the air has freshened.

Looking back summer was hectic and apart from all of our activities associated with our search for Jane’s Diaries, we packed in a fair number trips and public events. One such undertaking was when two of …

Read all of Highlands & Islands Summer Round Up!

The sensory garden at Pennington Infants’ School is up and running! The gnarly, old oak tree now has sturdy decking around it and the raised flower beds wait  in anticipation for planting. The paths are ready for the trample of excited little feet and the insect boxes await many-legged friends.

But we may have a problem – how do we entice them without the flora? Please can you give us advice on how to fill our garden with wonderful plants on a very small budget?

Southridge First School is a school near Whitley Bay in Newcastle . We are lucky to be surrounded by green fields where the children can play but they really wanted a wildlife feature. We had already added bird boxes and feeders in the grounds and the children had worked with the Northumberland Wildlife Trust to make their own mini-beast houses but we decided that we needed another feature in the grounds.

We already had an allotment so we decided to convert a boggy area of the field into a garden. We gathered together a group of adult volunteers to do the digging and children from all year groups were involved in the development of the area. This took place in …

Read all of Southridge Bog Garden 2009

We are developing our school eco garden. First we had 3 new raised beds installed, then all the children planted herbs and vegetables. We had the most amazing pumpkins and marrows.  Some unusual purple sprouts are growing now.  Also the children grew their own potatoes and took them home to share with their families.

Everyone at the school is involved in our eco garden. In the summer every child got involved making a scarecrow to celebrate Henry VIII’s 500th centenary. The scarecrow was exhibited at Hampton Court Flower show. It was entitled ‘Henry and his Birds’.  Now we have a new greenhouse and hope to plant seeds in the …

Read all of Coleshill CofE Infant School – Our Eco Garden

Skinners’ School in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, is already renowned for being at the front of the fight against saving energy, with solar panels supplying all of our science and catering facilities and filtering left over energy into the national grid. These were in place before I (Miss Montoya) started and organised by a teacher called Mark Moody. He and his Sustainability Group consisting of mainly students from across the years were also able to recently complete the building of a sensory garden at a local school called Oakley with the help of the High Weald of Kent project. With his knowledge, experience and guidance I was then able to put my plans into action.

In September of 2008 I started as …

Read all of HEAL @ Skinners’ School 2008-2009

After the planting of our food technology garden pupils have been able to access the plants and spend some time working on the beds.  This has included some of our most vunerable students who have found working in the gardens a positive change from their classroom routine.  These students now work on different areas of the living classroom every Tuesday afternoon with the help of our project manager, Karen.

Over the last five years we have cultivated several gardens here at Daylesford. 10 children from our Years 1 and 2 make up our Thursday Eco Group. With help from their parents and teachers have been the guiding force in deciding how the gardens were laid out and developed. We also had help from the local Melbick Nurseries.

Here is a summary of the 4 gardens accompanied by a photo gallery charting the work done to build them over the last few years:

The Eco-Garden – this is an area featuring a natural pond that attracts local wildlife such as amphibians, insects and birds for the children to observe and learn about.
The Storytellers’ Garden – this is an area populated by a …

Read all of Daylesford Infants’ Eco Group!

As part of the mission to improve the biodiversity around Fearnhill School, 30 saplings, donated by the Woodland Trust ,were planted around the school grounds.  Some of these were planted around the wildlife garden to provide a wider range of habitats for various bird and insect species.  In the wildlife garden itself, the pond is being re-developed from a mass of brambles to an actual pond with a boggy area and several different depths of water.  We aim to have the pond completed by the end of term, so there is a lot of work still to do!  Some pupils are helping to make bat boxes and bird boxes to put in the garden too.

Last Friday, the Year 9′s were …

Read all of Fearnhill School provides habitats! – Mission Update!