10,000th school signs up to RHS Campaign for School Gardening
21 December 2009
Compton Church of England Primary School in Newbury, Berkshire, is the 10,000th school to sign up to the RHS Campaign for School Gardening.
Launched in 2007, the campaign is designed to encourage schools to create gardens, teach the skills of growing plants and gardening and in turn enable their pupils to learn outside the classroom. The campaign has exceeded all initial hopes, and with 10,000 schools now signed this means more than 2.5 million children UK-wide have benefited from learning to garden at school.
Dr Ruth Taylor, Head of Education, presented a special engraved plaque and a plum tree to the staff and pupils at the school to celebrate reaching this landmark.
Green-fingered pupils at the Newbury school have been getting their hands dirty working on their allotment for the last three years. They have fruit trees, regularly cook with their own produce and raise chickens.
Sharon Annetts, Compton Church of England Primary teacher, was keen to sign up to the RHS Campaign and to start benchmarking. She said, "We are so pleased to be the 10,000th school to register with the RHS scheme and we plan to plant our new fruit tree on our school allotment for all to see."
The RHS Campaign for School Gardening is supported by Waitrose, Dorset Cereals and Marshalls plc. For more information on the Campaign visit the Campaign for School Gardening website.