Allotments and 'green ideas' for kids at a primary school - any suggestions ?

[hub2dee]

Our local horticultural society (of which I am the token young person, LOL) has been approached by a primary school for input / advice / ideas regarding transforming their grounds (pretty extensive I think) into outdoor educational play / classroom space, and establishing allotments for the children.

Allotments aren't my strong point, and dd is only 4 months old so I haven't yet done the gardening-at-school thing, nor have much appreciation for how ecology / green issues / growing veg etc. can be best integrated into the curriculum...

Do any MNers have particular experience in this area (perhaps I can CAT you ?) Do any MNers have any suggestions for

1. Best layout for allotments - one raised bed per class ? One bed per child ? Ordinary rectangular layout or triangular wedges (like cake slices IYSWIM) ? Anyone seen more 'themed' / structured kids' allotments (ie. in the shape of a fruit / vegetable etc.) ?

2. Other things to think about when establishing allotments which are often overlooked ? (I've thought about sinks for washing mitts, small tool sheds for implements and aprons, dwarf fruit-tree orchards etc.)

3. On a general point, any totally fab things you've come across at school re: green / gardening in the curriculum or amazing treatments of outdoor spaces ? (turf benches, sand / sea areas, wildlife ponds, compost home waste at school etc. etc.)

Thanks very much for any comments / ideas.

Hi,
our school has just applied for a grant from Rolls Royce for an outside conservation area, pond + other bits. It looks like we may actually get the dosh (a few K) so could be worth looking into.

Saw a wonderful crocodile carved out of wood at a kids hospice last month, it was around 10 foot long and quite fantastic..

Was the grant through a 'recognised' gifting scheme, or more of a personal relationship / one-off application, Anteater ?

Croc sounds fun. Was it designed for creative play or as an 'alternative' seating arrangement for outdoor teaching ?

I trained as a gardener & ran one of these at a primary school.If you want to CAT me for details of what we did,I'd be happy to help.

Our Primary has a nice collection of willow "camps" - teepees, tunnels etc. The Little ones love to play in them.

Slightly off track but a wormery.

These are all fab, and relevant ideas. Thank you everyone. Please keep them coming, I'll print out the thread to use in a brainstorming session. (Will bump occasionally). Love the idea of a camp of living willow teepees, could even be used for teaching, depending on class size, and I've always wanted to build a wormery, so that could be great.

There's a stable next to the school so might also propose a composting program, but it would take at least one year I guess to cook the manure, and it might stink and / or have health & safety implications...

Wow, Mirage, you sound like a good person to speak to !!! I'll CAT you tonight, thanks for the offer. The school may approach Capel Manor and Wisley to enquire whether any students might take on the project, but I'd be keen to learn more about what you've done, and how it's worked out... one of the things to consider, IMHO, is the challenge of oingoing maintainance long-term... during Summer holidays and after any particularly enthusiastic parents move on IYSWIM...

I read something in the TES a while back that there is a fund available from the RHS for school garden projects.

Local primary school I did a placement at had a sensory garden which was flower shaped with petal shaped beds. 5 gardens each with one of the senses (lots of rustley grasses and gravel, brightly coloured flowers, fruit and veg, spiky and soft plants and scented ones).

As for veg - grow the french purple podded climbing bean. germinates on a window sill in 2 days, grows fast. lilac flowers and purple beans which magically turn green when you boil them! brilliant for primary kids and could be tied in with a jack and the beanstalk thing in literacy.

ha ha ha can't you just tell i'm a trainee teacher (one day i'll be cynical)

The HDRA (Henry Doubleday Research Assn) also do work with schools.

We have an active and successful gardening club at our primary - I have to go to bed now, but will post tomorrow, H2D - lots of ideas to pass on. This thread should be really interesting for lots of us

Night Fauve, it's such a great way to nurture a love of the outdoors and an interest in gardening... If you get a chance maybe you could post a one-line summary of some of the more successful Gardening Club projects ? At this stage, I'm seeking loads of input, and will wittle ideas down once I've had a chance to see what is, and what isn't going to be possible. The school sounds like they are keen to incorporate ecological issues into many aspects of the curriculum, and the head / teaching staff are (allegedly, LOL) fully behind things...

The best teachers only lose their enthusiasm slowly, Freddiecat, LOL ! The school does have SEN pupils, but no wheelchair users. Your summary has saved me some head scratching for a suggestion ! The purple beans sound fab too.

I run the gardening club at our primary school. Its quite challenging but great fun.

Issues we came up against were problem of summer hols etc and veg. We coped this year by planting in containers but not totally successful.

Being able to continue the club during bad weather. We've had to come up with a list of projects that we can do inside (bird feeders, plantable gift tags, hyacinths etc.- currently creating tile mosaic flowers to create a year round garden on the school walls.

Good for the kids to take something away with them (also good way of contacting parents with wants). I do a "challenge" each week - quiz, wordsearch etc on related topic.

Gardening can be expensive and we only get £50 per year to run the club- ask parents to donate specific plants each week, sell any produce, make your own compost (we even had sessions of bagging up leaves to help).

We've just managed to bag a greenhouse which I've got the dubious pleasure of dismantling and re-errecting - should help with the winter planting, growing from seeds etc. Would also like a potting shed.

Gloves are also a bif of an issue as some of the kids have sensitive skin etc.

The woodland trust will provide all schools with a free tree pack. You can either have trees for a copse or a hedgerow.

Our kids really love the gardening. They are always waiting for us at the gate so its very rewarding. Good luck.

Incredibly enough, apparently there is a budget of approx £2K. Not sure whether there is any 'ongoing' budget available yearly IYSWIM. Trying to run your club on such a tight budget must be challenging, K.

Thank you for those ideas though. I was thinking of incorporating some kind of outdoor area that could be used despite the rain. Gathering leaves would kill two birds with one stone !

Thanks for the info about the Woodland Trust.

Rolls Royce Landscaping scheme has grant monies up to £15K.
Requests have to be submitted by Nov, closing date Feb(?) Schemes need to be included in school development plan and have support of head.
This is all the info I have (from mins of last Gov meeting) but should be easy to follow up.

Forms are a real nightmare according to the teacher who is coordinating it!

Thanks, A. Have dropped RR education an e-mail to find out more. The head is behind pushing a green agenda at the school which has already received recognition in this area and hopes to secure 'the next level up' in terms of some kind of eco-status scheme (sorry, not up to speed yet in this area).

Thanks again.

(Couldn't find specific info on their Web site about this though... if you see a URL anywhere, do post it on this thread, I'll check it occasionally if it dies, and will bump for more input too).

Look at the learning throught landscapes website (you will have to google it)

We used it as a reference for a course on Tuesday and it was ab fab

Good luck

BTW our school has a bed per class - a composter per class (they are comparing)
Willow tunnels
Wildlife pond

Just remembered about a similar school scheme. The PTA bought various pots and I think soil too. The children then 'sponsored' a pot and their responsibility was to put something in it and look after it (their name was also on it and what was in there). Pots were placed all over the school ground and the children had access to watering cans/water so could do it in playtime etc.

Great idea and made the school look very nice too.

Think the eco school thing might be this

Well, met with the had and a few parents last night. The grounds are fabulous there's an existing forest, two mature ponds, loads of grassland etc. all just begging to be turned into creative playspace, outdoor learning areas etc. etc.

katymac - was just wondering about willow tunnels... concerned about children hurting themselves on the willow as they crawl through - from shoots / twigs close to their faces... is that highly unlikely ?

Thanks for the Learning through Landscapes site BTW.

decorated pots sounds like a fun idea, pootlepod. I checked out the eco-schools thing too... it's funny, there are several (competing) schemes on (basically) the same thing when you start to have a dig... I'll present any findings to the head and let her decide which is a best fit with their activities. Thanks for letting me know about this though.

typo: met with the head

'ello 'ub

you should speak to mutual friend .. she's got information on musical sculptures and the like for school playgrounds and is running a gardening club at lunchtime

... boy she makes me feel knackered just looking at her sometimes

smooches to the girls

They are quite big and they are fab

Not prickles (according to DD)

Glad you like the website

"Love the idea of a camp of living willow teepees"

You sure you don´t need some time in the Yurt hub2dee?

It might be worth considering the roll up matting for grass to enable wheel chair users to access the garden - you prob won't need to buy them (but if you have a folder with things you might do in the future OFSTED will like to see things like that)

Yes, Twiglett, mutual friend is a ball of energy. So is her dh. He helped dig our allotment last year and planted loads of stuff. They are both fab. My girls smooch you back. How is my Moo ? Lovely as ever ? I'll speak to MF re: musical sculptures... I was thinking of using plastic drain pipe of different lengths but maybe she has better ideas !

katymac - had been thinking of small tunnels ! Yes, big would be better and there would be less risks etc. Fab. I think they have a weaving person amongst their parents who could help out with things like this.

Paps - A yurt - with fabric roof - would make a fab outdoor classroom ! Obviously have to line the walls with mystic Rumi poetry, LOL

An external classroom (with a floor and a roof) is a fab idea

We are getting an external playroom with a floor and a roof next spring - I'm so excited

Have you finalised how it will be constructed, km ?

I was thinking decking floor, upright corner posts, 'sail' type canvas roof tensioned across IYSWIM...