This term in the garden we have been preparing the raised beds on the field to create a more natural wildlife friendly space. We’ve started planting herbs like sage which has a long history of use in our food and health treatments. Soon we will plant lavender and chamomile.
In the small vegetable garden we have started planting herbs, broad beans, onions and cabbages. Lessons have explored the parts of the plant, planting techniques, preparing the ground and looking for mini beasts. It’s been joy to work with these budding gardeners.
Faiths4Change have been commissioned annually to run the weekly school gardening club for a number of years. The gardening club is run after lunch on a Friday afternoon. We usually work with 2 groups of 6 – 8 children from year 2 & year 3 to enable all children to have a whole season of gardening. During 2019, the gardening club sessions ran from April through to the end of November.
The purpose of the gardening club is to connect the children with nature – link with Catholic social teaching, RE – inspiring awe and wonder, discovery of the natural world, providing them with an understanding of the importance of plants to humans and other species and to enable the children to understand that fresh fruit and vegetables is grown/produced from the earth. Gardening club activities offer hands on connection with classroom topics such as plant based science.
To help achieve this understanding some theory on the needs of plants, photosynthesis, structure of soils and how plants grow etc. is needed as part of the gardening club sessions. This is usually undertaken at the beginning of sessions, prior to practical work starting and revised each week.
The purpose of the gardening club is to connect the children with nature – link with Catholic social teaching, RE – inspiring awe and wonder, discovery of the natural world, providing them with an understanding of the importance of plants to humans and other species and to enable the children to understand that fresh fruit and vegetables is grown/produced from the earth.
Gardening club activities offer hands on connection with classroom topics such as plant based science. The gardening club sessions are delivered by Annie Merry and supported by year 2 & 3 Teaching Assistants and managerially by Kelly Nuttall (Year 2) and Alyson Rigby (Head Teacher).
The children attending the Busy Bees gardening club sessions during this growing season were initially from Year 2 (first half of summer term) and then Year 3. It’s always lovely for the Year 2 children to plant seeds and then see them grow & flourish, to then harvest the food and then compost the plants & save the seeds as they move into Year 3.
The purpose of the gardening club is to connect the children with nature – link with Catholic social teaching, RE – inspiring awe and wonder, discovery of the natural world, providing them with an understanding of the importance of plants to humans and other species and to enable the children to understand that fresh fruit and vegetables is grown/produced from the earth. Gardening club activities offer hands on connection with classroom topics such as plant based science.
