Building relationships with schools
Whether you are a Britain in Bloom or It’s Your Neighbourhood group, or an Affiliated Society, developing links with your local school brings significant benefits. We caught up with the managers of the RHS Campaign for School Gardening for some top tips on how to get involved.
Why should children garden at school?
In 2009 the RHS commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research to look at the impact of gardening in schools.
In a survey conducted as part of this research, 72% of Primary School teachers felt that children should have ‘the right to garden at school’. The research showed that school gardening has many benefits for children – encouraging them to be successful learners, resilient individuals and responsible citizens of tomorrow.
To date 12,500 schools have joined the RHS Campaign for School Gardening – that’s almost one in every two schools in the UK. The Campaign is helping the RHS in its mission to bring the joy of gardening to a significant number of UK children by 2012.
We need your help
School gardening is not just about teachers and children – it’s about the whole community getting involved. Schools are busy places and families and local groups play a vital role in extending opportunities for children to learn and in taking garden developments forward.
The benefits of getting involved
Building a relationship with your local school will enable you to share your knowledge and skills with an extremely enthusiastic audience, as well as helping children to understand more about their local area and its environment. Children relish the opportunity to meet ‘real life experts’ who can convey their passion for a particular topic, and teachers, who are not necessarily experienced gardeners themselves, welcome professional advice. For your group, club or society it is an opportunity to publicise your activities, gain new recruits and perhaps enjoy time together as a team to help on larger tasks – all whilst inspiring a new generation of gardeners. If you are an “in Bloom” or IYN group, broadening the participation of the local community in this way will also increase your chances of success in the campaign.
What to do next
Have a look at our top tips below, and get to know your Campaign for School Gardening Regional Advisor.
Regional Advisors currently operate in the East of England, Yorkshire & the Humber, London, and the North West. The RHS is implementing a programme which will ultimately see a Regional Advisor in each of the nine regions in England and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Regional Advisors support schools in developing their growing areas and help bring people together with gardening skills to share.
The National Campaign encourages each and every ‘gardening’ school to develop links with their local community, so if you are in a region where there is no regional advisor at present, then please do contact your local school directly.
Community involvement at Thurston Primary School
Thurston Primary School in Suffolk had a very small garden area until a parent governor took the initiative to create a larger one after attending a training session run by the East of England Regional Advisor, Alison Findlay.
After a successful Lottery ‘Awards for All’ application, a community ‘Big Dig’ day was organised. More than 91 volunteers, from parents, grandparents and local villagers, came along and built a series of wooden raised beds for each class at the school. A large potting shed was set up for the ‘Little Diggers’ gardening club to use and water butts were installed. The group also improved access to a wildlife area and built a bug hotel.
The gardening club is now a great success, run at lunchtimes by parent and village volunteers. Each class grows its own crops and uses their bed for science and literacy.
Our top tips for working with schools
- Weigh up what time you have available
- Talk to other members of your group and see what sort of topics or activities you could support
- Decide whether your group has resources, such as land, that could be shared with a local school
- Contact the Head Teacher to discuss ideas
- Meet the lead member of staff running the school garden and arrange a trial session
- Encourage schools to join the RHS Campaign for School Gardening
Ideas for activities
- Tell a story about your life as a gardener
- Bring in plants, fruit and vegetables that you have grown to tie in with seasonal events (Harvest Festival, Apple Day)
- Offer surplus plants, pots and seeds for the school garden
- Offer to professionally judge school plots and plant & produce shows (and encourage schools to get involved with any regional “in Bloom” school activities or your club/society’s local show)
- Help schools turn their produce into profit with enterprise ideas, such as taking cuttings and making chutney
- Assist with watering and maintenance during the school holidays
- Invite schools to visit their local allotment or community garden, or participate in planting days in the community
More information about the campaign