There is always something growing at Westbourne House! From growing flowers for pollinators to harvesting seeds, making compost and making eco-friendly plant pots, our pupils are learning to understand and care for the natural world through hands-on gardening.
Their work has now been recognised with the RHS Level 3 School Gardening Award, a wonderful achievement for our young gardeners and their green-fingered leader, Mrs Edwards.
Across the year groups, the children have planted varieties of fruit trees, which have blossomed and started to fruit this year. They collected seeds from annuals, plus they have grown pollinator-friendly plants, like sunflowers, cosmos and sweet peas, supported by canes and wigwams.
Mrs Edwards, Head of Science
Three cool things our young gardeners have done this year:
- Collecting and saving their own seeds
At the end of summer, the children leave fruit and seed pods on the plants until the seeds are ready, then collect, label and store them in named paper bags to sow the following year. They also plant some out to overwinter. This gives a lovely sense of the gardening cycle continuing year after year. - Bug hotels and dead hedges around the school
The children made shelters for invertebrates, alongside growing plants specifically for pollinators. It's gardening as a whole ecosystem! - Making their own compost and using it to grow more
The children put dead plants, weeds and clippings into the school compost bays, then use the homemade compost to enrich their strawberry and raspberry beds and prepare the ground for new planting.
Of course, the benefits of gardening reach far beyond the plants themselves. Pupils are gaining practical knowledge, discovering a hobby and having plenty of fun along the way. Of course, there is something wonderfully grounding about getting your hands in the soil, slowing down, noticing what is growing and being connected to the natural world.
A massive thank you to RHS School Gardening, we are so proud of our pupils for this achievement.
