Schools & the RHS

Family gardening at Moor Lane Junior School

Kingston Adult Education-Family Learning has been running a Family Gardening course at Moor Lane Junior School, Chessington, Surrey. This is a new five-week course that has been developed to encourage parents, grandparents and children to learn together.

Indoor and outdoor activities were planned as good weather could not always be guaranteed! Adults and children were encouraged to plan a plot to develop within the school grounds. A range of seeds were sown including sweet peas, lettuce and carrots. Bottle gardens were also constructed, which were attractive and an innovative way of housing bulbs. These were taken home by the families to care for. Adults were encouraged to research various gardening websites for ideas to use in their own gardens. These included the RHS and BBC gardening websites. A compost bin was brought into school and families had to decide what items could be composted.

Healthy eating is very much on the agenda at this school and it is hoped that on the next course planned for this summer, the families will dig up the vegetables and eat them.

Using a hands-on approach really helped to bond the group and they supported each other throughout the course. One of the grandparents has suggested that he would like to help out with a gardening club at the school maybe in the future. It is hoped that more courses like this one are delivered in other schools within Kingston Upon Thames.