We've had an incredibly productive summer, with 4 weeks of workshops at Ray Lodge Primary School, working with the Nursery children to plant up herbs in week 1, fruiting plants in week 2, vegetable plugs in week 3 and edible flowers in week 4. Each week was accompanied by a related story time, and included rhymes and drama activities all connected to gardening and our special plants of the week. All four planters are now full to the brim with happy edible plants, ready for the new nursery year group to enjoy and learn about!
Before the summer holiday break, we also had a site visit with Pascale from My Mini Growing Space, who gave us lots of tips and advice about how to best adapt the outdoor classroom with some of the older pupils this term. Plans have been made for the layout of this space, including a heart-shaped path, nature trail and series of raised bed planters.
...and photos of the primary school's outdoor classroom area next to the playground.
Photos of Ray Lodge's Nursery planter beds...
Timeline: When will you be able to start your project? How often will your team meet? Are there any key dates to share for the project?
w/c 24 June 2024 - Project planning meeting & Nursery gardening workshops sessions planned
w/c 1 July 2024 – Materials, tools, plants and seeds purchased for Nursery workshops
w/c 8 July 2024 – Raised bed preparation & organic matter added to Nursery site
July 2024 – Four gardening sessions delivered with Nursery classes
August 2024 - Garden classroom planning and workshop design
September 2024 – Materials & raised beds purchased for garden classroom
September-October 2024 - Gardening workshops delivered with primary school pupils, beds constructed, spring bulb planting
October 2024 - Wildlife habitats & woodland area prep in garden classroom
November 2024 - Garden celebration event
December 2024 - Project evaluation
Budget: You don't need to share exact prices, but please share how you're planning to spend the seed funding & what costs you're anticipating to get your project up and running
Organic matter (topsoil, compost, manure, mulch) @ £400 budget = £400
Timber & screws for raised beds x 4 @ £100 per bed = £400
Plants & seeds @ £200 budget = £200
Gardening gloves & hand tools @ £200 budget = £200
Workshop materials (visual aids, information sheets, guides) @ £50 per workshop x 4 = £200
Wildlife habitats & nature trail materials @ £100 budget = £100
Other gardening materials (bamboo canes, netting, cloches) @ £100 budget = £100
BUDGET TOTAL: £1,600
Impact: How will your community benefit from this project? Do you have any measurable goals for your project, such as the number of people that will participate? Are you hoping to spread knowledge or increase interest in a specific subject?
By creating this Mini Growing Space, we will be providing hundreds of local children with new knowledge and skills in gardening and basic food growing principles. Providing children at a young age with a passion and interest with the natural world helps to ensure a respect and greater understanding of the environment and the importance of biodiversity. We will be planting edible, non-toxic plants so that they safe around children of all ages, and these will be mostly focused on fruit, vegetables and herbs, but we will also be creating beds of edible flowers as well. Each of our weekly workshop sessions will be themed and linked with an appropriate children’s story, so that the pupils will also be improving their reading and literacy skills whilst spending time outdoors and getting exercise.
Location: If your project requires physical space, have you decided the location? Do you have all necessary permission and permits to carry out your project at the chosen location?
This project will be taking place at Ray Lodge Primary School in Woodford Green, IG8 in the London Borough of Redbridge. Within the school premises, there are two sites on which we will be working: 1) The outdoor classroom at the rear end of the school playground; 2) Four raised beds planters within a new garden space to the back of the school Nursery. We have permission from both the Nursery Manager and the school’s Deputy Head to deliver this project.
Additional questions:
Please answer the questions below as much as you can. Growing Space will review the information you provide before your kickstart call. This will help save time and get you started straight on your project once you receive your seed funding!
Age group of those involved in the project:
3-5 years, 5-11 years
Number of children/adults the project will benefit:
Nursery: approx. 30
Primary School: approx. 520
Future activities: describe the activities you aim to run in the future with your Growing Space (for example: gardening, forest school, herb tasting with parents/neighbours/extended families of children/elderly people, etc.):
By delivering this project, the school will have a permanent resource where future pupils can learn to grow food and plants. Our aim is to offer future events at the school, including after-school gardening clubs and special gardening events for parents and extended family members with additional fundraising.
Material/trees: what trees/structure(s) or features do you already have in site? (if none, just answer 'none'):
There are no trees in the nursery garden area, however, the outdoor classroom already has a number of small trees on the north and west boundaries.
Does your site have water access?
Yes
Do you want to install a water butt (not obligatory)
We would like to but there isn’t a suitable structure / nearby roof to collect water from via guttering. There is also water already available on site.
Please confirm in one sentence that you have permission from a manager or landlord (of the building or head of a school (as necessary) saying that they are happy to make the improvement of their outdoor space and let you lead the project.
We have permission from both the Nursery Manager and the Deputy Head of the Primary School to deliver this My Mini Growing Space project.
What is the exact measurement/size of the proposed space for your My Mini Growing Space?
Nursery: Has 4 large square raised planters which are 9m2 each = 36m2
School: Outdoor classroom is approx. 15m x 15m in size = 225m2
Please upload a few pictures of the site and from different angles (ideally 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon, when the sun is out)
Please see attached
What time of the day does the space get the most sun and for how long?
The Nursery beds enjoy a good deal of sun throughout most of the day, from 8am-4pm. One of the planters is in a shady corner and we plan to plant shade loving edible plants in that area.
The outdoor classroom garden has areas of full Sun and partial shade from neighbouring trees which surround the external boundaries. The south and east sides enjoy sun for most of day, from 9am-3pm, the areas of partial shade in the west and north vary throughout the day but our plan is to create an area of woodland underplanting for those areas with habitats for insect and wildlife populations to support local biodiversity.
That’s all for now! We are excited to get you started!
